Preparing For Battle Or Tournament

Alan Armstrong · Black Belt

What do you do to prepare yourself (physically and mentally) a few days before a battle or an up coming tournament?

sensei8 · KF Sensei

Before?!?!

No, for me, I prepare myself everyday in every possible way I know of to the Nth degree; my MA betterment demands that from me. Training is the fine tuning of that which is necessary through mind, body, and spirit.

Tournaments are not battle in the sense a MAist can gauge themselves effectively and honestly; it's the raw core of Kumite, outside of trophy seeking, in itself that can be measured under the microscope.

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Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

Only sportsmen and competitors can plan and prepare because they have a clear schedule and know when the next match will come. On the other hand training for it’s own sake or to be ready for a self-defense situation that may or may not happen is different altogether. The two are radically different in different in purpose, method, strategy and goal.

JR 137 · Black Belt

IMO you really should start preparing yourself long before a tournament/competition. The last few days leading up to it are important, but they should physically be the easiest/lightest days.

I’ll use my own personal experience here. I’ve never knew my competition well enough to study film and make a detailed game plan.

The simplest answer is one should be addressing their own weaknesses first and foremost during preparation. Further developing your strengths is obviously a good thing, but IMO people focus too much on what they’re good at vs what their true weaknesses are. They want to compensate for their weaknesses more than try to improve on them. Too many people focus on say punching because they have the mentality that their kicks aren’t going to improve enough to be effective. Or they don’t want to address footwork because they’re not going to see results quickly enough. The mentality should be at least get your weaknesses to the point of them not being a liability; at least get them to an acceptable functional level. People like to do what they’re good at vs doing what’s difficult for them. That’s true of practically everything in life, not just MA.

The law few days, I rest. I’ll do a good warmup and stretch, do some slow technical stuff, but that’s about it. Just enough to keep my mind and body sharp. No one’s going to get stronger, faster, nor appreciably better in a few days.

I’ve noticed the quickest thing people lose is the reaction and timing. Keep fresh with those, and take it easy with everything thing else.

tallgeese · Black Belt

Two very different things. Skills can overlap, but two very different things.

When the fight happens on the street you have no advanced warning or notice. It happens with what you bring to the table that day. That means the only way to prepare is to train, as often as possible, in a way that will benefit your skill set at that moment. That means technical skills and physicality. Discipline becomes paramount as it can be tedious staying prepared to a degree needed. Are you always carrying the tools you've elected to work with? Are they well maintained? Are you mentally ready to deploy them? Have you done a complete needs analysis on the threats you face and picked appropriate training to address them?

All big, important things when it comes to real world work.

For comps I start about six weeks out with a ramp up to be ready. Any weight cut starts then with a realistic calorie restriction that is still healthy. I want to be walking around ready to step on the scale a week before. I start upping the intensity of my rolls for the first two weeks to remind my body what comp rolls look like.

At 4-2 weeks out I do the bulk of my hard work. Shark tanks to work on endurance. Positional rolling out of bad positions. Shrpening attacks. Lots of drilling.

2 weeks out I spend time looking at the brackets and doing some intel work on everyone else. I don't get to wrapped up in their game, I just want to know their tendencies and I'll work the next two weeks around stopping those.

1 week out I cut out the grinding and just focus on my attacks and the specific defenses my digging has suggested I focus on.

2 days out I'm chilling. Some light rolls to stay on weight and stay loose. 1 day out I'm done. I chill, relax, and wait to go.

I used to do longer camps, but as I've gotten older my body just won't hold up.
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singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

I prepare for battle by logging into Battle.net, then starting Diablo 3. ;-D
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5th Geup Jidokwan Tae Kwon Do/Hap Ki Do

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Alan Armstrong · Black Belt

A person should have a battle plan, even if it is so simple as punching the opponent on the nose, in the first second, as this concept doesn't give the opponent any time to figure you out.

As a plan can help a person focus and can be adaptable if need be.

A plan could also be based on confidence or conditioning oneself or even speed and or surprise.

In Wing Chun, if the opponent is less stronger or smaller than oneself then attack directly to the inside but if the opponent is larger or stronger then attack from the side by flanking.

Knowing this concept with practice, I will know without doubt what I will do in a instant, without hesitation.

As a plan for battle could be just that, hit hard, hit fast, without telegraphing without hesitation.

But if you really want to be prepared for battle try this work out.

https://youtu.be/1qc5bAgZ0uY

tallgeese · Black Belt

Alan Armstrong · Black Belt

BJJ Mental Preparation for white belt.

https://youtu.be/SVpelUzraXE

Displaced_Alaskan · White Belt

I don't do a blessed thing. Competition, no matter how spirited, is just that: a game played with consent of both parties according to fairly rigid rules. So I don't consider it anything even close to "battle". So no special preparation should be required. I'll go so far as to say that if your mind isn't ready for "Battle" every day, then you're doing something wrong with your training and should reevaluate.

What do I do to prepare for a tournament? Eat a good breakfast and take a motrin.

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