Let’s look at # 5: Relax and Breath.
There are a lot of things you can do to win a fight and if you practice your Martial Arts diligently you will find that these things become second nature and you will not panic in a real fight and you will win almost any fight you are in. I say almost because let me assure you that you will not win every fight you are in for the rest of your life. There is always someone who is tougher than you can no one wins them all. That being said of all the things I am discussing with you to allow you to win most fights today tip is this is the Most Important of the 10 ways to win any fight.
Why, because if you lose control of your breath, you will always lose control of the fight and you will always lose the fight. You can be a poor kicker, a weak puncher, you can have a bad ground game, you can be unaware, you can fight poorly and you can make other mistakes and still win some fights, but if you can’t breathe you can’t win any fight regardless of how great a Martial Artist you are. Controlling your breath is the most important factor in winning fights.
One of the most important things you can learn in the Martial Arts and in your life, if that your breath controls your mind. It is not the other way around. Your mind does not control your breath; your breath controls your mind. I believe everyone is aware of the fact that you have to breathe to stay alive, and you have to breath about every 30 seconds in most situations. If you don’t take a breath within 1 or 2 minutes, you will absolutely assuredly die. No exceptions, no second chances. You must get fresh breath every 30 seconds or you will die. Breathing is the most “vital” of all the vital things you have to do for your body to stay alive.
You can go 3 days without water, 2 weeks without food, but you can’t go 2 minutes without fresh breath. The Good Lord made it an “obsession” with you that you take breaths every 30 seconds or so and nothing can prevent that from happening. You can kill yourself for love, destroy your life with drugs, drink yourself to death, eat yourself to death, or starve yourself to death but you can’t hold your breath until you die, and you can’t let anyone else deprive you of breath without putting up a fight. It is the most important thing for your life and therefore when your normal breathing is interrupted your mind shuts off all other functions until you can breathe again.
You have all had the experience of running very fast and “running out of breath”. When this happens to you, you stop worrying about dinner, your bills, your diet, you stop all other thought. Your mind shuts down everything else until you get control of your breath again. Everyone has had this experience. If you have ever had the horrible experience of almost drowning you know this experience from an even more terrifying manner. I have almost drowned in a swimming pool several times and the fear and panic is unbelievable. Your mind is completely stopped as you experience this near death phenomenon.
Now let us relate this back to the premise of controlling your breathing in a fight. If you lose control of your breathing in a fight, and get “winded” If you become short of breath because you get scarred in the fight and start holding your breath while punching or straining. Your mind will shut down and you will not be able to fight effectively. If you will lose control of breathing, you will lose control of your mind. You will not be able to continue to fight the good fight and that is why when a boxer is “winded” in a fight or a MMA fighter is “winded” in a fight they always make mistakes and wind up losing. You have all seen fighters on TV who start out like a terror and then after a few minutes or a few rounds run out of breath, get winded and simply can’t do anything but walk around in a trance like state, getting hit and doing nothing to respond.
You have to keep your breathing “normal” in a fight situation to win the fight. You have to make conscious attempts to breathe normal, to not hold your breath when you are punching, kicking or grappling. You have to practice staying calm and have to focus on your breathing. Keep your mind relaxed and keep breathing or you will never win any fights and never become a great Martial Artist.
In future articles I will teach you several techniques for learning to “control your breathing” and how you can practice your breathing when in a fighting situation. There is even a technique I use that allows me to Never Breath In but still get in fresh air by breathing out very hard. It is used by all great boxers and great Martial Artists. Look for it in new articles.
To summarize: If you want to win any fight you have to stay calm and you have to control your breathing. You cannot “hold your breath” while punching or kicking or grappling. You must keep a normal breathing pattern to allow your mind work react to the fight in the proper ways that will allow you to win the fight. If you lose control of your breathing you will lose the fight.