Mindset when rolling or competing

[John Mejia]

A more likely title for a book by me would be:
"How to Drink Too Much and Still be Moderately Successful"

That's what I'm talking about!! I'll buy that immediately.

[Isaac Atley]

Imo, ideally you want to be a coiled ball of reactive reps that are just waiting for their trigger to spring. If you are thinking while they are reacting, you're gonna be late. The opposite also applies when you react properly. Capitalizing on opportunities that your opponent gives you makes everything easier. You don't want to let someone put their hand on the mat without trapping it. Otherwise you will go out of your way to force him to do something, when he is willingly giving you a setup. This is one of a thousand examples of triggers for drills/techs. Eventually you are already hugging your knee before you realize his hand is on tha mat.

Stance. This is a huge part of my entire game. Having a strong base to react from, whether attacking or defending, is huge for confidence. Especially when you see openings in your opponents stance. This is a huge weakness in newer competitors, unless they came from wrestling. How does stance translate to mindset? It forces you to focus on position and posture before contact. You are aware of your weight distribution, neck position, and gaps. Elbows in, head up, lead arm ready to swim for an underhook, ready to sprawl or shoot etc. I am also analyzing his stance, weight distribution, and gaps. Are his steps rythmic or repetitive? Are his elbows out? Is his neck weak? Where is his head in relation to mine? While I'm checking the list, my stance is literally my first bait. I want to counter everyway he can possibly explore me. He has to explore me because my stance is tight. Being completely focused on the immediate task at hand as soon as you bump knuckles. Everything else comes down to reps.

Also, breathe. Its crazy how much we involuntarily hold our breathe, especially under pressure. This is never good.

thank you sooo much, i have a massive problem in comps because of how i start, i always feel awkward and not sure how to get things going, i think its more of a mindset problem, deer in headlights cos its a comp, but looking at stance sounds like just the technical thing i can make myself do to get me moving. i find this really helpful.

[Isaac Atley]

oh and btw i read an article recently about mental reps of things over physical reps, and they found that mental reps are extremely beneficial, but you need to know the technique properly or you will be repping bad technique.

for me i mental rep a fuck load. im still going through a roll i had two months ago against a black belt. putting physical and mental reps together is excellent for increasing your skill. and im not talking about thinking about the move a couple times. i mean breaking it down in your head and going over it and over it and over it.

1000 mental reps might not be as good as 1000 physical reps but by the time you do 1000 physical reps, you can do 10,000 mental reps at least.