First fight coming up !

[Fuzzplop]

Hi everyone next Saturday i have my first competetive San Shou fight and was wondering if anyone had any advice they could give me ? I'm a bit nervous and would like to know how you felt coming up to your first fight and how it went.

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas :)

[Pork Chop]

first fight's gonna be like a car crash.
you're gonna gas no matter how hard you train.
you're gonna make mistakes that you haven't made since your first week of training.
nerves and adrenaline are a b!tch
the best thing you can do is remember to breathe
relax
maybe practice meditating
read a book
especially the night before, so you can calm down enough to get to sleep and be well rested come fight day.
if you've gotta cut weight, make sure you've done a dry run or two in the weeks leading up to the fight to make sure you won't have any issues come weigh in day.

otherwise, try to have fun with it.
good luck!

[Scott R. Brown]

Hi everyone next Saturday i have my first competetive San Shou fight and was wondering if anyone had any advice they could give me ? I'm a bit nervous and would like to know how you felt coming up to your first fight and how it went.

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas :)

Hi Fuzzplop,

Don't pay attention to being nervous. What I mean is, don't focus on it. Once your fight starts you will be so focused on fighting you won't be be nervous at all.

I personally preferred not to think about winning or losing. Focus on the technique, that is, meeting the challenges the fight presents. If you focus on the "idea" of winning you waste focus that should be used on the skills that will "result" in you winning!

[Yum Cha]

Patience.

Play your game, not your opponents, and know the difference.

[goju]

stick and move:D

slam his head inot the turnbuckle when the refs not looking

finish him with the walls of jercho :D

[Yum Cha]

stick and move:d

slam his head inot the turnbuckle when the refs not looking

finish him with the walls of jercho :d

don't forget the chair!!

[WinterPalm]

Don't go crazy with the head shots! Work the kicks and the takedowns...I've seen countless people do their first fight and go ape-sh it on the punches thinking they can knock the other guy out. Chances are you aren't going to finish the fight. Be methodical and shoot a couple times before really working the hands.

[Drake]

you're gonna make mistakes that you haven't made since your first week of training.


I can personally attest to this one. And man, was it UG-LY.

[Dragonzbane76]

you're gonna make mistakes that you haven't made since your first week of training.

haha yeah... your going to come away from this and watch the video after and go WTF was I doing. lol

[Eddie]

In san shou, throws are rarely worth the energy unless they are already off balance. Let them struggle to move your weight and save your energy for striking.

www.kungfuchengdu.com

I completely disagree with you on this. Throwing is as much part of san shou as kicking and punching. Its strange that you live in China and you don’t realize how big part throwing plays in a fight.

[Ray Pina]

Hi everyone next Saturday i have my first competetive San Shou fight and was wondering if anyone had any advice they could give me ? I'm a bit nervous and would like to know how you felt coming up to your first fight and how it went.

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas :)

You'll always be nervous and the results, either way, will provide you a lot of feedback. At this point it's too late for should have's. Focus on your strengths and game plans.

Don't get drawn into a war. Move. Wait for your time, the unload with everything you have but calmly.

Don't take too much water between rounds.

Have fun.

Lost my first San Shou fight.

[Ray Pina]

I personally preferred not to think about winning or losing. Focus on the technique, that is, meeting the challenges the fight presents. If you focus on the "idea" of winning you waste focus that should be used on the skills that will "result" in you winning!

That is huge and the exact attitude I have going to todays jiu-jitsu tournament... been busted up and no training for two months so I got nothing to lose. In fact, my mission is to flow. I don't even want to go down. Ray's going to show his throwing today.

[David Jamieson]

Hi everyone next Saturday i have my first competetive San Shou fight and was wondering if anyone had any advice they could give me ? I'm a bit nervous and would like to know how you felt coming up to your first fight and how it went.

Thanks everyone and Merry Christmas :)

1) there's nothing you can do now to improve or increase your chances to win.

2)trainings over, time to fight


good luck and try to learn form it win or lose.

[Yum Cha]

Scott, Ray, Andy, I frankly don't believe I'm hearing what you say. All of you are well experienced to my mind in the sport field, I have to run it through my mind, but I don't get it.

Spirit, technique and strength make the fighter. If you don't have the spirit to smash your opponent, and the burning to win, you're not ready yet. 1/3 not ready.

I've never stepped up in a competition to offer my body for someone else's training dummy and stepping stone to victory.

Sorry, I've never had any training to the contrary, from High School wrestling on up.

Like everybody says, take your time, don't let the bell set you off like a firecracker, but, don't go in there for the experience, go in to win, the experience will come soon enough, the only question is what kind.

In all fairness to Fuzzy, if you guys want to take this topic further, start a new thread and I'll be there. I won't reply here, because this comment is about all the on-topic juice required. He has the two opinions, he doesn't need the nitpicking.

[SanHeChuan]

Go into to the fight with an aggressive but calm mind set. Whatever mind set you go into it with will probably be the one you're stuck it the whole time, until you get more experience. If you start out thinking you're going to feel him out and then come up with a game plan, you'll probably never get to step two.

Use the hands to set up the feet, and the feet to set up the hands.

[Scott R. Brown]

Scott, Ray, Andy, I frankly don't believe I'm hearing what you say. All of you are well experienced to my mind in the sport field, I have to run it through my mind, but I don't get it......

Hi Yum Cha,

I suspected that someone would misunderstand what I was trying to say.

There is a difference between going in with the intent to win, and going in with a preoccupation or inordinate focus on winning. The idea is not to have a divided mind. A mind that is preoccupied with the "idea" of winning is not a centered mind.

It is a Zen attitude similar to the one the samurai who studied Zen sought to achieve. An empty mind is a flexible mind, able to spontaneously respond to changing circumstances.

A mind attached to a fixed outcome is at a disadvantage. It is subject to emotional interference because of the attachment. Dispassion is an advantage and dispassion only occurs when there is no attachment to an outcome. "Intending to achieve the goal" is not the same thing as "attachment to a fixed outcome".

I understand how it can be confusing. The question most people have is, "How can I win if I don't try to win, or intend to win, or focus on winning?" LOL! It is something you have to learn to do. Think of it as, "The art of winning, without winning!" As I previously said, it is very Zen, but it is an effective attitude that adds an edge in all life's endeavors. You know you have it when you can win or lose with the same dispassion!

Personal experience has repeatedly demonstrated to me that the more mentally relaxed I have been, that is, the less emotionally attached to a fixed outcome I have been, a better performance resulted, not just in physical endeavors such as athletic competition and other tests of physical strength, skills or endurance, but also in intellectual performance such as taking academic exams.

An empty mind is open to intuitive insights that leads one to unplanned and sometimes unconventional and spontaneous responses to unpredictable and unfamiliar circumstances.

Read my subscript quote by Shoju!

It takes practice, but the proof is in the pudding! Try it for yourself.

[sihing]

Hi Yum Cha,

I suspected that someone would misunderstand what I was trying to say.

There is a difference between going in with the intent to win, and going in with a preoccupation or inordinate focus on winning. The idea is not to have a divided mind. A mind that is preoccupied with the "idea" of winning is not a centered mind.

It is a Zen attitude similar to the one the samurai who studied Zen sought to achieve. An empty mind is a flexible mind, able to spontaneously respond to changing circumstances.

A mind attached to a fixed outcome is at a disadvantage. It is subject to emotional interference because of the attachment. Dispassion is an advantage and dispassion only occurs when there is no attachment to an outcome. "Intending to achieve the goal" is not the same thing as "attachment to a fixed outcome".

I understand how it can be confusing. The question most people have is, "How can I win if I don't try to win, or intend to win, or focus on winning?" LOL! It is something you have to learn to do. Think of it as, "The art of winning, without winning!" As I previously said, it is very Zen, but it is an effective attitude that adds an edge in all life's endeavors. You know you have it when you can win or lose with the same dispassion!

Personal experience has repeatedly demonstrated to me that the more mentally relaxed I have been, that is, the less emotionally attached to a fixed outcome I have been, a better performance resulted, not just in physical endeavors such as athletic competition and other tests of physical strength, skills or endurance, but also in intellectual performance such as taking academic exams.

An empty mind is open to intuitive insights that leads one to unplanned and sometimes unconventional and spontaneous responses to unpredictable and unfamiliar circumstances.

Read my subscript quote by Shoju!

It takes practice, but the proof is in the pudding! Try it for yourself.

Good post Scott!

People get addicted to winning, it's an emotional high, with the feeling to recreate that situation, problem is when you lose it hits you hard and goes the other way, with some people giving up on the very thing they are doing. There's too much investment to something that is uncontrollable and unpredictable.

The problem with dispassion is that we as human beings are emotional beings as well. Emotion is a very powerful force, all thoughts are but thoughts combined with good emotions are super powerful. In today's society we use emotion in the wrong way, we have learned how not to control them and to have them control us. The equation is to use the emotion for a positive effect, without being attached to the feelings it brings with it if we are successful in winning. Losing attachment is most likely impossible, but being aware of it lessens its hold on us. So when in a comp of somesort, don't hold on so strongly to the need to win, that act alone will mentally screw you up. Go into it with the idea of winning, then let it go once it has started and let nature take it's course. It's the experience that matters, not the end result.

James

[Yum Cha]

Hi Yum Cha,

I suspected that someone would misunderstand what I was trying to say.

There is a difference between going in with the intent to win, and going in with a preoccupation or inordinate focus on winning. The idea is not to have a divided mind. A mind that is preoccupied with the "idea" of winning is not a centered mind.

It is a Zen attitude similar to the one the samurai who studied Zen sought to achieve. An empty mind is a flexible mind, able to spontaneously respond to changing circumstances. ....

OK, I'm with you on that.
A shade of the same thinking, "In the game of attacking intent, to have no intent is an advantage."

[Eddie]

in san shou you only score a point if you hit a target area, so if someone taps you at random, he wouldnt score a point. Also, once in a clinching position, only the first in and last out punches are scored, so you are right, you could end up being even in score. I totally get your idea, although I still dissagree.

When you throw someone and he falls, you often break his spirit in some way. Maybe get a mental upperhand in some way.

[viper]

For me I use meditation and visualise how i will feel with nerves, Also who will be there, what the atmosphere may be like things like that so when I get to the fight my breathing automatically becomes relaxed and deep like im meditating I use this alot skydiving stand up comedy things like that.
Also I wont tell you what you should do in the ring I dont know how you fight Id say most important is to enjoy yourself listen to your trainer and your training. Id wish you luck but i think luck is for those who dont train.

[Iron_Eagle_76]

In any combat sport you use your strengths and try not to get "tunnel vision" too much. It is easy for someone to say just stay calm, breath right, meditate, or whatever else, but the truth of it is when you walk out to that ring and 50-300 people are focused soley on you and the other guy, the pressure is unbelievable. This is where inexperienced guys lose the fight, because they have already fought three rounds before they even get started.

Experience is the only thing that rids a fighter of the jitters, but not totally. You will always have them to an extent. My boxing coach was a professional fighter with 10 pro fights and he would always go to sleep back in the dressing room before his fights. He always said it kept him calm and he would wake up about twenty minutes before, warm up, and go fight. Everyone has their own pre-fight routine they come up with.

[bawang]

why worry about winning or losing? ur not gonna win any money
just have fun

[Fuzzplop]

Thanks everyone for all your advice and support :) I will let you all know how i get on. Thanks again.

[Egg fu young]

Who can compete with you if you refuse to compete?