Throwdown

Victory! I won my fight last night against Adrianna Runyon via tapout to strikes in the second round.

At the start of the fight, she didn't rush at me as I'd suspected she would (no surprise there, the fight never goes as you imagine ;) ) and I had to come to her. She started throwing haymakers anytime I got close to her, and for most of the first round I got stuck in my old habit of standing and taking blows and exchanging and punch or two at a time. But after that I started to listen to my corners better and my movement and combos improved. Throughout the fight I landed several body kicks that she didn't like, but I didn't unleash as much power in my leg kicks as possible, as I'm still a little uncomfortable with them and need more practice. I'm not sure how far into the second round it was when we locked up, I scored a takedown and full mount and started to rain down punches. She tapped after two or three hard rights hands to the face.

Even though my opponent was not as experienced as me, she was tough on the feet and I got a chance to improve my stand up which was incredibly valuable to me. I went in there looking to have fun and become a better fighter and I did that. Now it's time to get back to work and become even better for my next fight, which should be in October. Watch out, world, I'm on my way up :)

Visualization

Last night Joseph and I were talking about our upcoming fights on the ride home from training, and as usual, the subject of visualization came up. Joseph and I are supremely different in the way we prepare mentally for a fight. I personally have learned to use visualization as a tool to keep my confidence high and stay positive. I don't know when I developed this skill (and I do consider it a learned skill, not everyone has it, but everyone can practice it) because I wasn't always so confident in my abilities, although I've always been a hard worker. Somewhere along the lines though, I unlocked this ability in my mind to see the things I wanted to become reality...and found that many times, that's exactly what happened.

Over the last two years and five victories, I've used visualization thousands of times...and not just before fights. I visualize myself lifting heavier weights-and then I go do it. I visualize myself having tons of energy in training-and then I do. Sometimes I even visualize just having a good day, and while this doesn't always make my day perfect, I usually have a better outlook all day. And when I am visualizing how I want a fight to go, I always, always make sure to see my hand being raised at the end.

Knowing that not everyone uses visualization as successfully as I do, and wanting to possibly improve my own visualization practice, I looked up "how-to" for visualizing success.

I found a great article that puts it this way:

"The first time we have a new thought it is a weakling of a thought that has sand kicked in its face by stronger thoughts and beliefs. Each time you re-think it though it grows in strength as the physical pathway becomes more and more well defined. Not only that, but if it is a belief that contradicts one you already hold, the older belief starts to atrophy and die."

Some people have a hard time contradicting the beliefs they already have in their head, but if you practice, I guarantee you it will become second nature


For the full article, go here:http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/how-to-visualize-your-success/