As a former athlete who got near Olympic level to me “90% of the game/fight is mental” refers to the fact that everyone at that level has done the physical work. That’s the “easy” part. Its simple to say show up everyday and work hard. It’s hard to have confidence and stay out of your own head when the true moment presents itself. Edit. I finished the video and it seems John said pretty much the same thing
I didn’t at all reach that level, but I was a division I athlete. I found so much of that physical work conditioned my mind to tell me I was ready and could compete at the level I wanted. But on game day 1.) you hope your body has it that day. Sometimes it just doesn’t for whatever reason. You can feel it. In those instances, staying mentally engaged and confident enough, to at least perform respectably, becomes so much more difficult. 2.) As you said, everyone there has done the work. I learned it’s mentally making the right moves and timing them, that separates athletes when it’s time to compete. A single mental mistake is usually the thing that costs you doing what you expected for yourself on game day.
Awareness: Of the environment, the context, and your ability to influence or change the situation. Attention: Focus on the task at hand. Self control; both internal and external. Developing confidence is a skill, that can be learned, practiced and developed. Through study, practice and experience. We get more of what we focus on and from what we spend our time doing. Aim your intentions and calibrate the physical and the mental. Pen and sword in accord.
I like John but this is dumb logic. The physical training is what gives you mental strength to know you can go hard for the full duration of the fight. The reason people do hard sparring before a fight is to train for the mental pressure but it's also a physical activity, so the physical training is all also mental training. You will see fighters talk about their confidence leading into a fight coming from the physical work they put in during camp.
I don’t think it’s a direct proportion. There’s definitely some guys that underperform, or overperform. I think having a mentality “that I deserve to be the best” is vital.
This guy has no clue what he’s talking about. Talk to amateur wrestlers they tell you specifically what mental state you’re trying to achieve in performance. This guy runs his mouth like a guru not an athlete
I know several wrestlers. They get really butthurt when they start bjj nogi and get mauled and have to tap out. Is that the mentality you’re talking about?
From studying Jon Jones, it seems that self belief (the idea that you have an intangible competitive superiority) is key to building confidence. Of course, self belief is drilled into you from past success and an unshakable world view.
Jon Jones is both, a person with super confidence if he's prepared and gameplanned to a T (interview before the match with DC and execution during the match), and also a very insecure person (declining to fight MW Chael Sonnen as short notice replacement, while Jon had a full training camp, his notorious PED abuse, and his pitiful reactions when he gets called out on social media)
In high school I was always deathly afraid of speaking in front of the class, when I started riding my bike allot my body could over come and extinguish the symptoms of fear so I would then feel relaxed and I remembered how surprising and cool it felt. But you stop biking and the crippling fear comes right back.
Confidence comes from training all over the world with many people and experience many different types of training not just BJJ or MMA. Things like meditation, yoga, sleep, diet, weight cutting, ice baths, breathing exercises, even facing fears especially around or with other ppl will build mental confidence but they're all physical actions. In a fight on a stage you'll know you did everything you could and you're willing to die therefore fear is just another fleeting feeling. And there's no reason for thinking even though you may have a game plan your opponent could ruin it at the jump. When there's an opening you should react not think, that's why repetition and flow training are good.
I'd say that meditation builds a relaxed attitude rather than confidence. After meditating a bunch I don't feel like I'm way better than the other guy, but I am ok with either outcome. Imo worrying about confidence is bullshit. Confidence automatically adjusts to your competence.
