Vrss-Fightgear

before the fight, everything can feel loud.

fear. adrenaline. anticipation. your heart racing. your mind going everywhere.

then the fight starts, and something can shift.

in a 2013 study of professional MMA fighters, researchers explored how athletes experienced and regulated that intensity before and during competition.

the goal wasn’t to feel nothing. it was to find the level of arousal that allowed them to stay sharp, present and responsive inside the chaos.

because sometimes the psychological battle starts long before the first strike is thrown.

Jensen et al., 2013

faith shows up everywhere in combat sports.

prayer before the walkout. a glance upward after the result. gratitude the moment someone gets handed the mic.

but the research points to an interesting distinction: simply having faith and actively using faith to cope with pressure may not be the same thing.

for some religious athletes, prayer, surrender, support and other forms of religious coping may change how they experience stress and uncertainty.

and that matters when attention is part of performance.

so maybe the question isn’t whether faith makes you perform better.

maybe it’s what faith gives you when the pressure hits.

Shahdan, Noh & Adnan, 2022
Noh, Mat Zaki & Danaee, 2024

your gut has its own nervous system.

roughly 168 million neurons constantly monitoring what’s happening inside you and communicating with the brain.

under pressure, those internal signals become part of what you consciously feel: the knot, the pull, the restless sense that there’s still something left to do.

so that “hunger” you feel in training or fighting isn’t necessarily just a metaphor - it’s part of how your body tells your brain that something matters.

research: Michel et al. (2022), How Big is the Little Brain in the Gut?

visualization isn’t just imagining yourself winning.

it’s rehearsal.

when you vividly imagine a movement, many of the same motor-related areas of the brain involved in physically performing it become active.

and research suggests that mental practice alone can even produce measurable improvements in strength, although physical training produces substantially greater gains.

the interesting part isn’t choosing one or the other.

it’s what happens when mental rehearsal becomes part of the physical training you’re already doing.

in our latest episode, psychologist and mental performance coach Anaïs Verny breaks down the science of visualization and how athletes can use it to strengthen the connection between mind and movement.

this is anaismindset , and this is the VRSS podcast.

research: Yue & Cole, 1992; Ranganathan et al., 2004

there’s an interesting theory called 2D:4D, which compares the length of your index and ring fingers as a possible clue to hormone exposure before birth.

researchers have explored it across sport, health, behaviour and decision-making.

in one study, male mma fighters had lower ratios than non-athletes. in another, women who chose judo or boxing had lower ratios than women who chose aerobics, despite similar body size and fitness.

(btw: the pattern could not predict who won.)

maybe 2D:4D offers one small clue about why some people are drawn towards combat sports in the first place.

your hands may hint at why you walked towards fighting.

but they can’t predict what you’ll do once you get there.

sources: Camarco et al. (2022); Kociuba et al. (2016)

pressure doesn’t create new habits. it reveals the ones you’ve already built.

so why do some athletes suddenly overthink when it matters most?

on this episode of the VRSS podcast, we’re joined by psychologist and mental performance coach Anaïs Verny ( Iss อีส ) /anaismindset .

together, we explore why overthinking disrupts performance, how athletes build genuine self-trust, and why the goal isn’t to eliminate fear, but to trust yourself enough to perform alongside it.

we talk about:
• why overthinking disrupts performance
• how self-trust is built through evidence
• why pressure reveals your preparation
• the difference between reacting to thoughts and observing them
• practical CBT and ACT tools for athletes
• visualization, routines, and training the mind for competition

for athletes, coaches, and anyone interested in the psychology of performance, this conversation offers practical tools to build trust long before competition begins.

this is Anaïs Verny. and this is the VRSS podcast.

“training is my therapy” is one of the most repeated phrases in combat sports.

research is beginning to explain why so many practitioners experience it that way.

studies have linked martial arts and combat sports with resilience, confidence, prosocial behaviour, belonging and improved mental-health outcomes.

and yes - many demanding sports can develop these qualities. but combat sports bring a particular kind of pressure: another person in front of you, disrupting your plan and forcing you to regulate fear, adapt and stay present.

that experience can follow you far beyond the gym.

sometimes the transformation is visible.
sometimes it happens quietly, long after the gloves come off.

sources: Healey et al., 2025; Moore et al., 2020; Ciaccioni et al., 2024.