# Fear: Does it affect ability?



## MikeKerwin (Dec 11, 2009)

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on this list, I look forward to making many more!

Fear in martial arts has interested me since I began training. 

I'm very interested in how you seek to control fear and about your personal experiences of fear in MA.
Respectfully,
Mike


----------



## J Ellis (Dec 11, 2009)

Yes, it can and often does affect your ability, reducing you to gross motor movements and an embarrassing deterioration of skills.

Experience with fear, feeling it and working through it, is a large part of being able to control it. You may never overcome it, but you can learn to function in spite of it. Realistic training scenarios to induce adrenal response, pushing through when mentally or emotionally distressed, and visualization/self-talk can all help develop the ability to fight through instead of freezing in moments of fear.

Joel


----------



## J Ellis (Dec 11, 2009)

Don't forget to introduce yourself in the Meet & Greet section. I finally did...a year after I joined.


----------



## MA-Caver (Dec 11, 2009)

F.D. Roosevelt said "...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"... but even then THAT can be conquered. 
For me, and old street-fighter, I found that awareness and confident in my abilities to meet/combat any threat helped reduced (not eliminate) my fear. If done correctly and channeled properly fear can actually help. But you have to have experiences with fear and with the various threats you might meet to conquer it. You won't totally eliminate it. I think anyone who says they're totally fearless at any given moment is lying. 
Now, I do not fear ANY man, for I've learned that they're all just as human as I am, in some ways better, yes... but in other ways my inferior. But we are all the same... human.
I DO fear what they can do to me. ANYONE is capable of performing the same acts as another... Those who say: "oh I could never hurt/kill anyone..." give them a gun and have them come up on someone doing something horrible to their beloved spouse or child and watch the bullets fly... (maybe). Tick a person off bad enough and they'll fight you. Put a person in a corner and threaten them with bodily or mortal harm and they'll fight. 
You can train to eliminate your fear but it's highly recommended not to tempt fate by purposely walking through bad neighborhoods making yourself a target. 
Train in your respective art, train for the unexpected. Train as if your life depended upon it... because sometime it just might... you never know. 
Learn to increase your awareness around your surroundings WHERE-EVER you are! Use common sense in sketchy neighborhoods. Learn how to make yourself less of a target to a would-be predator... without of course sacrificing your dignity and self-esteem. 
Learn to calm yourself down when your heart is racing with fear. Remember you have martial art training... chances are... your assailant won't. 
Bruce Lee said the fight always goes to the one who wants to win it the most (or something to that effect). When you're attacked, *WANT* to win. Don't need or desire or "would like to"... *WANT* to... and use every trick in the book and then some. 
My oldest brother taught me... "there's no such thing as a fair fight". 
Good luck


----------



## terryl965 (Dec 11, 2009)

Fear is a tool that can benefit you, if you learn to control and channel that fear into your abilities. The main thing is not to let fear run you but instead run it.


----------



## MJS (Dec 11, 2009)

MikeKerwin said:


> Hi Everyone,
> This is my first post on this list, I look forward to making many more!
> 
> Fear in martial arts has interested me since I began training.
> ...


 
IMO, if you want to overcome something, you're going to need to experience that thing, whatever it may be, in a controlled setting, slowly, then gradually increasing the exposure.  For example...if the fear is of getting hit in the face during sparring, you need to slowly start out, doing controlled sparring, getting yourself used to the contact, etc.  Then gradually build up to a faster pace of sparring and more contact.  

Depending on what the fear is, there are ways to train to overcome it.


----------



## seasoned (Dec 11, 2009)

Everyone so far has given very good advice. You are not looking to get rid of fear, just control it and use it to your favor. Fear is very emotional, and that can lead to a physical dilemma that can incapacitate you. Controlling fear starts in the mind. Never think what will happen, what might happen, what is going to happen, and most important, what has happened, in the past. You must remain clear headed, and reside in the here and now. When we allow our mind to wander, it creates a platform for fear or over confidence to creep in. If we remain clear headed, and are trained well, this will allow our body the latitude to preform the way we trained it to do. Control the mind, control the breathe, and control the situation. The breathe will fight to become shallow and irregular which will lead to an oxygen deficit. Breath slow steady, and deep. From this point forward practice the above every time you spar, reacting to things as they happen, with a clear relaxed mind, while the breathe is deep, steady and controlled.   :asian:


----------



## still learning (Dec 11, 2009)

Hello, Fear, Adrenline, all will effect you "big time" ....tunnel visions,faster heart beats, body/mind will not react the same as class room training..

Research this futher..also getting hit in a real fight? ...effects you too..one must learn to fight thru "pain"

Gift of Fear, Surviving Arm Assults...good books to read..plus many of Loren Christensan books too...

Aloha,


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Dec 11, 2009)

Fear is a physiological reaction to an external stimulus.  It is one of the most ancient and primitive of mankind's emotions, and it is intended to protect us.  It did just that for the many hundreds of thousands of years man has been on this planet.

Fear provokes the _'fight or flight'_ reaction, which is the core of self-defense, if you consider _'self-defense'_ to be *'self-preservation'* and not fighting to avoid looking like a wussy when you could have run away instead.

Fear triggers physical reactions in the body in most people.  These reactions include elevated heart rate, increased breathing, sweating, and high adrenalin levels.  Many people report tasting copper in their mouths, and shaking afterwards.  Mental activity in the brain may change, causing hyper-alertness.

The biggest problem with fear in humans is that there is a third alternative to fight or flight, one which was also hardwired into us as primates, but one which is probably not useful to us nowadays - freezing.

So, when one is suddenly threatened, the brain recognizes the threat and throws up the 'fear' flag, and all this stuff starts happening in our brains, but if we do not either fight or flight, we may freeze; and that's generally a bad thing in a self-defense context.

Martial arts training may help with little fears, like fear of being hit, or fear of harming someone else.  But what it does that I feel is more important, is that it trains the pathways of the brain to react in a given way to threats through repetition.  In stressful situations, we revert to our training if that training is ingrained deeply enough.

I have seen for myself, even as a martial arts beginner, that people will practice their kata and their self-defense techniques diligently, but when sparring, they'll drop all that and quickly move into a mode more resembling that of brawling school kids; wild swings and out-of-control charges.  What happened to all that training?  Well, to me, it just means that the training hasn't yet replaced what was imprinted first and deeply on ourselves - the schoolyard reactions to bullies or taunts, for example.  I notice that the more highly-trained blackbelts do not lose control and do not revert to brawling.  I am convinced that part of the reason that blackbelts win fights is not just because their technique is better (although it is) but because they have been doing it long enough - after years and years, now it has indeed become part of their ingrained response to a threat.

Honestly, I don't worry about fear too much.  I don't feel I am too afraid or not afraid enough.  I have fear, sometimes.  I don't necessarily feel it is something I need to master or control.  It is what it is, another emotion.  It causes a physical reaction, and I'm aware of that.  For the most part, that's a good thing - if I'm afraid, I want my body to be prepping me to defend myself with violence if need be.

More important to me is continuing to train.  I am 48 years old and have not been doing martial arts for very long.  I have a lifetime of poor responses to overcome and implant new memes, build new pathways in my brain.  My responses must become instinctive so that when I need them, they just come, I don't have to think about doing this block or that backfist.

I don't fear fear, and I don't hate fear, and I don't particularly want to master fear.  I only want to build new sets of natural responses to what fear alerts me to.


----------



## Big Don (Dec 13, 2009)

Fear and it's twisted little brother, lack of confidence, can and will jack you up.


----------



## Langenschwert (Dec 13, 2009)

Fear drastically reduces our capability to fight. To quote Sigmund Ringeck, a 15th Century German fight master:

"A despondent heart will always be defeated, regardless of all skill."

That's why we train our technique to be perfect, so it comes off at least half-assed under pressure and we survive. Take the time to learn the technique properly. Don't think because you can do it five times in a row well that you've "got it", because you probably don't. Practice basics compulsively, since that's what wins fights. Train as realistically as your art allows, and get back to training!

Best regards,

-Mark


----------



## Bill Mattocks (Dec 13, 2009)

Langenschwert said:


> Fear drastically reduces our capability to fight.



I have to disagree.  Fear is an instinctive emotion; animals have it and it is a self-defense mechanism.  It does not harm them; on the contrary, it helps them to survive.

Fear *increases* our capability to fight.  However, if one does not know how to fight, then it doesn't help us.  So I agree with your next statement:



> That's why we train our technique to be perfect, so it comes off at least half-assed under pressure and we survive. Take the time to learn the technique properly. Don't think because you can do it five times in a row well that you've "got it", because you probably don't. Practice basics compulsively, since that's what wins fights. Train as realistically as your art allows, and get back to training!


----------



## MJS (Dec 13, 2009)

Hmmmm....perhaps this is a good reason to train scenarios, such as we used to see with Peyton Quinn.  Putting yourself in the proper mindset, will eventually condition yourself to fighting in that fear state of mind.


----------



## xfighter88 (Dec 15, 2009)

If you really want to get over it having a cage fight will scare the crap out of you, but a guarentee that your next TaeKwonDo or Kumite match will seem much less scary by comparison.


----------



## MikeKerwin (Dec 15, 2009)

MJS said:


> IMO, if you want to overcome something, you're going to need to experience that thing, whatever it may be, in a controlled setting, slowly, then gradually increasing the exposure.  For example...if the fear is of getting hit in the face during sparring, you need to slowly start out, doing controlled sparring, getting yourself used to the contact, etc.  Then gradually build up to a faster pace of sparring and more contact.
> 
> Depending on what the fear is, there are ways to train to overcome it.



Thanks, MJS and everyone else, for all the thoughtful replies and anecdotes, folks! It's heartening to see I'm not the only one thinking about fear in the martial arts.

I appreciate all the discussion about physical training, but I'm also interested in conditioning the mind.  I've been working with author Kip Pascal to explore fear in martial arts, and we humbly offer some suggestions of our own at http://www.kerwinpublishing.com. As always, I'd be interested to hear your response.

Keep the insight coming. It's fascinating!
Respectfully,
Mike


----------



## prokarateshop (Dec 17, 2009)

I try to harness the fear and the body's reaction to fear. I think it important to use it and expect it


----------



## zDom (Dec 18, 2009)

Also remember that an adrenaline rush can be mistaken for fear as fear so often causes an adrenaline rush.


----------



## xfighter88 (Dec 18, 2009)

I find that fear doesn't have an effect on my or my students skill and ability. It does , however have an effect on their ability to execute the technique when it matters. We try to employ at least 1 or 2 fear/adrenaline/reaction producing drills each practice to help with this but there's only so much you can prepare for without actually being in a bad situation.


----------



## sgtmac_46 (Dec 27, 2009)

MikeKerwin said:


> Hi Everyone,
> This is my first post on this list, I look forward to making many more!
> 
> Fear in martial arts has interested me since I began training.
> ...



Fear can effect EVERYTHING!  Fear can be a gift or a curse, depending on how one learns how to use it.

Confronting fearful situations and learning to overcome them is key to mastering fear......we learn to master fear by putting ourselves in small doses of those situations incrementally, and adding more and more until they lack the sting they once did.

And that goes for all kinds of fear responses, not just physical fears.  Most folks fear public speaking.  It's useful to join an organization like 'Toast Masters' to confront those fears head on, and over come them, turning those fears and inadequacies in to strengths.

I think many martial artists started because they had anxieties about physical violence.......and started training to overcome those anxieties.


----------

