There’s a difference between feeling tired during fights and being tired…

Competing as a fighter is stressful, and the cocktail of neurochemicals and hormones this dumps into your body drastically affects how you feel. Especially early in a fight career, nervousness, anxiety, or even all-out fear, will leave you feeling exhausted without even exerting yourself!

But, I’ve found there can be a disparity between the sensations you feel, and the performance you can produce if you can override them. From the top down, emotion affects posture. And from the bottom up, posture affects emotion. If your training has built good postural habits, then despite how tired you feel, you may well not look it!

Don’t assume because you feel tired, and are facing an exhausted-looking opponent, that you look just as exhausted during the fight too.

Reviewing your own fight footage allows you to cross-reference your feelings of fatigue during the fight with your postural appearance. And compare that to the posture of your opponent. Having your corner team honestly review if your opponent “looks tired” (i.e. more tired than you do) between rounds, will give you a psychological boost and help you pace your efforts to better affect.

When Feeling Tired Is A Lie

by Don Heatrick
@donheatrick

Don Heatrick

Founder of Heatrick Strength and Conditioning

Don Heatrick is a family man from the UK, former mechanical design engineer, European Muay Thai silver medallist, former pro Thai boxer (ranked 4th in UK while aged 40-years), a Muay Thai coach, podcast host, and the go-to expert on Muay Thai performance training with over 25 years of coaching experience.

Don helps ambitious fighters and coaches take their game to the next level by bridging the gap between Strength & Conditioning, Performance Science, and Muay Thai.

Follow Don Heatrick on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/donheatrick/

Donate
Want to help us invest even more in providing free content? …You can donate here

FREE VIDEO COURSE | THE SCIENCE OF BUILDING CHAMPIONS

The Science of Building Champions video series
The science of building a Muay Thai champion’s strength & conditioning, which results in…
  • Fastest possible short-term progress
  • Maximum long-term progress
  • More efficient movement patterns
  • Better technique
  • Relentless endurance (never gas out)
  • Reaching athletic potential as quickly and efficiently as possible (without wasting time on things that aren’t worth doing)
  • Free up more time for technical training AND life!
  • The Optimum 12-Week Fight Camp
GET INSTANT ACCESS NOW!