Mental Combat: The Sports Psychology Secrets You Can Use to Dominate Any Event! (Martial Arts, Fitness, Boxing MMA etc)

Normally I don't write reviews, but I feel so strongly about this that I am posting a review about this book. So you understand where I am coming from, I have read more than a dozen books on mental training for athletic performance and wanted to expand my knowledge further with this book.The book is 162 pages with 49 chapters listed under the Contents. That's typically 3-4 pages per chapter, which does not allow for a lot of explanation of the topic or any type of in depth discussion. The author states in the opening chapter, "I wanted to make sure that the techniques described were note merely hearsay or anecdotes passed form person to person, but quantifiable techniques demonstrated, through scientific study, to amplify physical and mental ability." While the author does cite sources (often only listing the publication and not the actual study; no references are provided in the back of the book either) there is really no discussion of what the scientific data showed in terms of the measurable benefit that each technique presented was shown to have. The author also states in the opening chapter that, "The tips and tricks contained within this book have been collected from a variety of expert sources," and in the end, that is all this book is. A collection of loosely held together information from other sources. The author provides no original information. Anyone who has read multiple sources on this topic could easy produce a book of similar quality. Finally, regarding the author, he never mentions that he has had any use of this at the highest (professional) level. From what I took from the book, he trains local martial artists at a local studio and takes his students to competitions. There are other authors with much more experience working with the best athletes in the world in that can provide better information than what is contained in this book.Some of the big mental combat techniques that are presented in this book are "Fake it until you make it," visualization and 2 minute meditations. Fake it until you make it needs no explanation, as we have all heard it and know what it means. The sections on visualization are strictly about visualization. Discussion about mental rehearsal is sorely lacking, which research shows in actually more successful that visualization as mental rehearsal generates feelings in the body in addition to seeing the images. In the section about 2 minute meditation, the author uses his own work and cites his book on the subject, which you can take to mean that he is an expert on it and should cite himself or that his is just marketing his other book to potentially profit from it; both are true. The book also uses four chapters to discuss panic attacks (which I cannot recall another book on mental training discussion this topic). This book's chapters are much too short to be of much value to anyone who may be suffering panic attacks at a competition, and if you are you should seek profession help, not advice from this book.In summary, I would not recommend this book for anyone, even martial artists. Even if you have never read a book on mental training find another book, as this one is too short in it's discussion of the topics presented and lacks many critical mental skills that are valuable to peak performance, such as mental rehearsal. Get a book from an author that has experience using the techniques with the best athletes in the world and has some of their own original information to present. If you are looking for a book on the topic try one of the following, in order of my recommendation:1) With Winning in Mind (Lanny Bassham; author has won Olympic Gold medals)2) Mind Gym (Mack Casstevens; author has worked with professional baseball, football, basketball players)3) Perk Performance (Charles A Garfield PhD, lecturer and consultant on peak performance)The only reason I can see why anyone would give this book more than 3 stars is that this is the first book they have ever read on mental training. If you already have knowledge of this topic from having read other material, skip this book. You will be glad you did.

It took me a handful of pages before getting interested in this book, BUT I spent an hour and 45 minutes reading before putting it down.I do recommend picking this one up if your wanting to learn simple tricks to help you improve your mindset. I know a few parts definitely stood out to me and I am glad I found this book.It took me a total of about 3 hours (in a two day period to finish it)I purchased for my younger brother and I know it'll do him just as well.Thank you for reading and hope this helps.

it's a great book it's easy to read and it gives you a ton of tips if you work in treating into some sort of competition or something and you were dealing with anxiety or stress it's also a quick read took me about three days and the knowledge and it is worth retaining.

I purchased this book months before I had my previous fight. 2 fight losing streak and I knew my problems were mental. The techniques in this book helped me deal with my inner demons and in turn helped me be a better instructor to my students in their preparation for tournaments. Be sure to check out the sequel, Invincible Mind, if you enjoy this book as much as I

So far, so good. I went through the book underlining suggestions. We'll see if they pay off when I go to the North American Cup in Baltimore. I do wish he had a few more footnotes to back up his facts about sport psychology, but I tend to believe him.

Helping me already.

Good

A book without scientific foundation. The book does not even have bibliographical references.Scared me!

I watched a video on YouTube of a professional boxer called Mike Rashid, I've been following him for many years and he always seemed like a modest, humble yet stand-up/alpha male kind of character. He made a video where he suggested this books for fighters and people that just generally want to build mental toughness, so I went and purchased this book prior to my fight and WOW did it make the greatest of difference. This book is phenomenal and I want to thank Phill Pierce for making such a great book, this hasn't only helped me inside of the ring, but outside also in my working life.

A very good read with some great information that I will be employing. The only gripe I can have is that there is a number of typos in the book which you would expect not to see.

As a very confident person who very rarely feels nervous before big events this book did not help me, I thought it may go beyond the basics and give me even more of an edge.. However, I still found it interesting and I do think this can honestly help people with confidence/nerve issues..

Present for a boxer , she found certain parts very useful

Bought for a fighter who likes to zone in. He loves it