Let’s say that you were taking a test and there was a question that asked you to rate your mat attitude on a scale from 1 to 5. What score would you give yourself? A score of 5 would mean that you’re so tough that Randy Couture wouldn’t want to train with you. And a score of 1 would mean that you sit in the parking lot before class, thinking of all the different ways you’ll probably get your butt kicked in during the training session!

If your score would be anything less than a 4, your mat attitude sucks and needs work! What this tells me is you’re not training at your peak performance because you’re defeated before the training even starts!

“Mat Attitude”, or MA, affects all grapplers at some point during their training. MA shows itself in the form of being afraid to make mistakes, being overly cautious while sparring, having no confidence in executing your techniques against unwilling opponents, and many other ways. We older grapplers (OGs) have our own set of MA issues that are usually based on our own self-doubt because of our age, physical conditioning, body limitations, inability to train, thinking that grappling is a young man’s sport, and a lot of other stupid things that we allow to take up space inside our heads.

Those MA issues are crucial to OG training progress because it’s virtually impossible to perform at peak levels when so much crap is floating around your head. The MA issues can be so strong that it becomes very hard to enjoy grappling. Instead of confronting those MA issues, OGs tend to avoid them by denying their existence. OGs will create excuses for poor training (e.g. too old, fatigued, too busy at work, just can’t get into training like they used to do, etc.). OGs also try to avoid the MA issues by looking for reasons to put off or avoid training completely (e.g. faking or exaggerating injuries, feigning burnout, pretending to lose interest in grappling to avoid the challenges, etc.). The pressure from these MA issues can be so great, some OGs break from the stress they put on themselves and just give up on grappling completely.

When I think back to those early training days where I consider myself “practicing” BJJ (1996-2003) instead of “training” in it (2003-present), my MA issues were out of this world! On that 1-5 scale, I was a 0! I would spend the car ride to class, the time in the locker room changing, the time during warmups in class, and the second right before being paired up with a partner thinking about how I was going to get my butt kicked! And guess what happened…I got my butt kicked! After training, I had the car ride home to think about it, the time in the shower, in the middle of the night when I would go to the bathroom, and my first thought when I woke up the next morning about how I got my butt kicked in class last night. And I dealt with this hell for YEARS because I was too prideful to admit
something inside me needed to change. Fortunately, I didn’t stay prideful forever and start confronting those issues. It wasn’t always easy or fun, but I did it!

The only way to deal with these MA issues is to first admit they exist. Too often, grapplers (especially OGs) feel that admitting to someone that they’re having MA challenges is a sign of weakness when it’s just the opposite. Denying their existence is a real sign of mental weakness. Avoiding or denying their existence in your life only gives them strength and makes defeating them impossible.

I’ll ask the question again: does your mat attitude suck? If the answer is yes, you’ve got work to do…now get to it!

Paul M. Greenhill, “The Wise Grappler”, is the creator of The Wise Grappler System and author of The Wise Grappler Ezine, a weekly ezine that provides martial arts training and personal development tips for the older (over 35) and non-traditional martial artists. To learn more about “The Wise Grappler” and to sign up for more FREE tips like these, visit his site at http://www.ihateyoungpunks.com or contact him at paul@thewisegrappler.com

(c) 2007 Paul M. Greenhill

Tags: goal-setting, martial arts, self esteem, self help, sports, success, wrestling

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