The calm after the storm

Competing in combat sports is a unique experience. “Fight camp”, those gruelling weeks leading up to the fight day, is a journey like nothing else. Day after day, week after week, your entire life is dedicated to one simple aim…to get into the best shape possible whilst making weight. Then comes the long-awaited fight day. The nerves, adrenaline and emotional turmoil as you prepare your things and make your way over to the venue. That growing sensation of preparedness as your hands are wrapped, the pre-fight massage completed, gloves tightened around your hands and the mong-kon placed atop your head. You walk out to the cheers of the crowd and the blaring of your walk-out music; the rush of adrenaline beyond what words can describe. You climb into the ring, and then it is ”go time”.

Then, almost in the blink of an eye, the battle is over. Whether it ends in victory or defeat, that journey is now complete. You climb back out of the ring, perhaps exhilarated, perhaps dejected, maybe your tired and hurt, maybe you feel like you could go again straight away. Regardless, the mountain has been climbed, the summit reached. The journey has reached its peak.

What now?

For the next day or two, maybe you’ll be coasting on the indescribable feeling that victory brings. For a short while, you’ll be filled with elation, contentment and pride. Slowly, all that ebbs away. What is left? Emptiness. Hollowness. You suddenly find yourself feeling inexplicably low and unmotivated. Training holds little appeal; indeed, everything starts to seem a little pointless.

You ask yourself, why? Why do I feel this way so soon after accomplishing something I have dedicated weeks, perhaps months, of my life to achieving? Should I not now just be happy?

You ask yourself why you feel this way, and perhaps you even feel a little guilty or ashamed of it. You hesitate to talk to anyone else about it, just in case it turns out that there’s something wrong with you. Maybe you’re not made for this life. Maybe this is proof that you’re not really a fighter after all.

Trust me, though, this is entirely normal. Post-fight depression is something that is rarely spoken about but is very, very real.

Ask any fighter. If they’re honest with themselves, as any good fighter must be, they will tell you. Indeed, they will likely be happy to talk about it, as even experienced fighters who know it is all just part of the journey may hesitate to bring up what may be perceived by others as weakness, and yet they are desperate to talk to someone about it.

When you think about it, it is no real surprise that these feelings often emerge in the aftermath of a fight/competition etc. Not just in combat sports, either.

For weeks and months on end, your life was dedicated to a single aim. This aim gives you purpose, direction, meaning. It gives you a single metric by which to measure all things, all decisions, all actions and omissions. It gave shape to your life, and something beyond the day-to-day monotony upon which you could set your gaze.

Now, all of that is gone. After all that preparation, all that focus, all that commitment, after the highest of highs as the journey culminates in the ring, now you are just back to being simply you. You are suddenly bereft of your purpose and must now recentre and recalibrate your mind to the normal world, to normal life.

How do you deal with this? Should you admonish yourself for being lazy and unmotivated, force yourself to get back in the gym and start training hard again?

Maybe a little bit. Maybe you do need to give yourself a little kick up the backside, but don’t tear yourself down over it.

What you absolutely do need to do is re-calibrate the purpose of your training. You’re not in fight camp anymore, so whilst you definitely don’t want to slack off entirely, you don’t need to be 110% still.

Relax. Smile. Have fun.

Enjoy your training again and rediscover exactly what made you fall in love with this sport in the first place. It certainly wasn’t for the fame, money, or anything like that. It is likely because something about the sport spoke to you in ways that transcend mere words. Rediscover that, and your motivation and love of training will return tenfold.

Not only that, but you’ll often find that it is in these periods in which you make the most progress with your technique, mindset and overall ability. You don’t get better in fight camp, you get better in-between fights.

If you find yourself suffering from that post-fight depression, keep this simple checklist in mind:

• Be kind to yourself, there is nothing wrong with you for feeling this way
• Remember to enjoy your training again, train in ways you find fun
• Talk to people, especially your coaches or experienced fighters who have been there before

For those who are not fighters, please keep all this in mind when it comes to fighters in the days and weeks after they compete. Be kind, be open, listen and encourage. Even the strongest amongst us need that from time to time.

And remember, whether you’re a fighter or not, whatever level you are at and whatever your aims, if there’s something your struggling with in your training, not just technique but mindset or anything else, reach out to me (or Tommy, Alice or any other coaches) and I will help you wherever I can. We’re all in this together at the Johnson’s Muay Thai family.