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Competitive succes is in my opinion for a large portion mentally.
My question is....how do you achieve this mindset? or are some people simply born with it? I dont mean competitive drive, i mean the mindset that sets apart a champion from a mediocre athlete.
When i played starcraft, when i had nothing to lose, i did pretty well, once i had actually gotten some minor achievements and a decent team, i just couldnt get results anymore at all, everything seemed to suck, massive losing streaks...all the while when winning seemed so important to me and was the only reason i kept trying.
I see the same in sports. After only 1 year of fencing i was the best fencer in my club/if not region, i easily beat people who had been training for more then 10 years, finished top 3 consistently in smaller tournaments.
Then i went to some really big tournaments, the stress to achieve was massive, but i kept losing match after match...as if i lost my edge somehow, as if i was so focused on winning that i couldnt see the bigger picture anymore.. Stuff just blurred out when i was facing my opponent and i just forgot how to fence...simply didnt know what to do anymore, besides attacking like a retard and losing points because of it.
It even got worse..i went from training 9 hours in the week to 15-20 hours recently, including powerlifting, cycling, long distance running (one 15km+ long run every week) and my regular fencing training. Trying so hard to improve my physique; i figured...if i lose, i must simply train harder, right? Well, i feel shit most of the time right now, i feel like puking every morning and all the frigging supplements are making my toilet visits a epic workout of pain and agony. And guess what, my results in tournaments became even worse, even the small ones that i used to do so well in.
How the hell do you get a competitive mindset? Because i am pretty sure it is not because i am not training hard enough. Perhaps someone here can enlighten me.
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Papua New Guinea1054 Posts
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Mental state, mental state, mental state.
Depending on your mental state, learning can become several times more efficient or utterly useless. Mental state also affects your ability to perform. Tapping the results of your training requires a certain mental state. You need to "let" your body utilize your training. If you have nerve issues in tournaments, you may consciously override your training, or tunnel vision so bad you remove all the benefits of having a brain and lose a lot of performance that way.
I don't really know any proper methods for adopting the appropriate mental states for learning and competition, but I guess I could describe what your target is.
For competition, you want to center yourself. Find a sort of balance in your head, not too conscious of your actions, not too unconscious of your actions. Get into a state where you can temper your reflexes with a little thought, and you should be able to perform at your best.
For learning, you want to be very conscious of your actions. Learning falls apart when we stop paying attention to our practice and just grind out drills. Consciously refine your moves, and that will increase time-efficiency tenfold. Of course, it may make the practice require a lot more mental effort, which will make it hurt your work-ethic more, but that's the price you gotta pay. Also, practicing in the wrong mental state can lead to you mindlessly repeating awful habits until you learn those instead of anything good, so make sure to do your practice right.
On another note, your nutrition is probably complete shit if you have toilet issues that bad. You also need to give yourself time to recover after workouts. You usually want to hit a sweet spot right after recovery but before your body settles down. If you've been feeling like shit for a while now, you're probably doing something very, very wrong.
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These are just my thoughts, but i feel you need some structure and balance in your training. It feels like you're trying to do everything at once, while having a bad diet. Maybe not bad, but at least unfit. I would take a step back, redefine your goals in all aspects of fencing (competitively, but also conditional, technical and tactical; if those are relevant, i know nothing about fencing) and maybe also take a break (if you're in the position to).
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Actually, all you have to do is to read your own post, forget about what you think it is about, actually understand what you're saying and then... make some positive changes to your life.
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asking yourself how to do it won't really get you there.
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Think about the difference between Stephano and Idra, or MVP and MKP. The difference is in knowing "how" to win, and being able to perform your best even under pressure. I'm not convinced that it can be learned, but I think you can improve your mindset to some degree through practice and training.
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doubleupgradeobbies!
Australia1187 Posts
Break down the process, concentrate on doing the details right and improving (on each detail, don't think about the overall), not on actually winning.
Also on the flipside, also concentrate on what you did wrong and how you can not do them wrong next time, not on the fact that you lost, or if your on a losing streak.
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Don´t focus on winning, but on playing, or you´ll inhibit yourself.
Don´t stay on the edge, as it will drain you.
Don´t let your self-value depend on your success, as it will alienate you from yourself.
Don´t believe in success as something of inherent, universal value, as its inevitable decline will make you unhappy in the long term.
Don´t believe you can achieve anything through hard work, because it will burn you out.
Learn your actual motivation and eventually get over the pressure to succeed.
Be happy.
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Yea thanks for all the feedback. Some of the advice actually helped!
Today we had a large fencing lesson hosted by olympic and ex-world 1 (in 2011 he was ranked first) fencer bas verwijlen. At the end we had a competition with a ton of fencers. I dont know how it happened, but i finished first, it was great to achieve something and getting felecitations from one of my big fencing idols (bas him self didnt compete tough, but still alot of other good fencers).
Ended up winning 7 out of 8 games!
Best feeling ever, but it was weird shaking the hands of people afterwards and people taking pictures and stuff haha :D.
I hope i can keep this up.
I did everything i could to not think about winning, but rather focus on looking and trying to exploit my opponent`s weakness.
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EPT
