Anxiety in the gym

[the killer]

sorry NLP

[HerbM]

Yellow pages (commercial phone directory), Internet search (google) should work most anywhere in North America or Europe.

Many therapists have some NLP training -- some certainly just 'took a course' and never really internalized the techniques properly so get someone who is confident enough to offer a money back guarantee and will do it FAST.

A big part of NLP is doing things quick and easy that other therapy modalities treat as hard and slow.

For simple phobias (this may not be such) it takes a decent BEGINNER at NLP and about 20 minutes (15 minutes to make sure the change is Ok and 5 minutes to actually DO the work.)

Then anchoring in good useful resources in the situation should take another 20 minutes. Teaching you to build additional resources (making you able to fish and not just giving you dinner) a little bit longer so you don't NEED the therapist to fixup any lingering problems.

If this is not a simple phobia, MAYBE a 2nd session. With the good resource anchoring and you knowing how to build on that, it will not only be better right away, it will get better each time you visit the gym as long as you WORK the methods while you WORK out.

Stepping into the ring, would be another good place to build.

A good NLP people helper will need to be a little careful here to make sure and get the difference between removing any harmful anxieties and replacing these with useful resource states VERSUS trying to make someone overconfident or careless about competition. A little of the proper type of nervous energy can help you fight better and remind you to PROTECT yourself at all times.

Boxing has ritual and structure, so keying all this to the existing procedures and your own pre-workout or pre-fight habits is easy.

E.g., you wrap your hands each day before you workout, right? I would suggest keying the gym (ordinary workout) changes to this time etc.

You get ready and get into a competition ring a certain way, the coach says or does certain things, so does the ref -- use that predictable structure to remind your of your tasks and inner resources for completing those tasks.

Another example is people who need to get hit before they "start fighting" -- anchor in a PREVIOUS time when you ALREADY got hit, didn't you?, and take that into your NEXT fight, and the NEXT fight, now?

I could almost do this part over email, if I could just see and hear you guys and make sure to get the right responses so that you are still going to be careful and workmanlike in taking care of yourself in the ring or when sparring, right?

The phobia part is even easier, but it requires you imagining some odd things which have to be personalized just a little bit.

[HerbM]

The original poster doesn't show his location in his profile, but a Google search like this will get you started:

nlp ~therapist birmingham
I left it ambiguous as to Birmingham England or Alabama (US) so you put your own location in there -- perhaps the nearest big town or city if you don't find anything in your little village at first.

The ~ makes the search APPROXIMATE -- words like psychotherapist, counsellor should both match as well.

You could customize it like this:

nlp ~therapist | ~coach YOUR_LOCATION anxiety | phobia

Add or drop a few search terms to tune the results....

On Google the vertical bars '|' mean OR, either term will match.

[X]

Hey, BigSkinny87 ........ fair play to you for the post.

Tough place to be.

Why did you start doing boxing? If you think about that, you might find the answer.

Personally (and i dont know you or the gym or anything, so forgive me if I am miles off) ... I would focus on yourself. Look at the technique you are trying to learn, understand your body and its limitations, get every single punch technically right, 'feel' the bagwork, skip really smoothly. Just go deep inside yourself.

Look inside yourself and conquer your body first. Once you've done that, then worry about what everyone else thinks.

After all, boxing isnt really about competing with your opponent, its about understanding yourself and the physical and mental limitations that we all have. Conquer your body and your mind will follow.

If you have anxiety about what you look like externally, bury it and just deal with yourself. If you can do that, everything external will come along by itself

[BigSkinny87]

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to thank every one for the replies. Sometimes posts go un-noticed, and it is great to get some feedback.

I have slowly been getting more comfortable in the gym. The more times I go during the week, the more I socialize with the other people there, and the more questions I ask my Coach, the better I feel.

Even had a few nights where I felt "in the zone" internally focused and not really caring about anything besides boxing and working hard.

I am hoping that if I am able to conquer these insecurities in the gym, that it will translate into everyday life. Anxiety is somewhat of a plague, especially for me in social situations and big groups of people. It's just finding that comfort within myself that is very elusive.

[Andre]

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to thank every one for the replies. Sometimes posts go un-noticed, and it is great to get some feedback.

I have slowly been getting more comfortable in the gym. The more times I go during the week, the more I socialize with the other people there, and the more questions I ask my Coach, the better I feel.

Even had a few nights where I felt "in the zone" internally focused and not really caring about anything besides boxing and working hard.

I am hoping that if I am able to conquer these insecurities in the gym, that it will translate into everyday life. Anxiety is somewhat of a plague, especially for me in social situations and big groups of people. It's just finding that comfort within myself that is very elusive.

Socially if you smile and have fun, others will be attracted to you and you will feel at ease.

You can literally get away with saying what others are secretly thinking, if you grin when you do, life will be a real laugh, you just never do it at an others expense.

[the killer]

alright, tuesday got an appt to got to a shrink to talk about nlp... ill keep you updated

[Youngblood]

I am hoping that if I am able to conquer these insecurities in the gym, that it will translate into everyday life.

This is the thing that boxing gives to people more then anything else. Whether you are there to compete, for conditioning, wanting to learn a bit of self-defense, socialization...

More often then not, be it by design or decision or pure happenstance, if you stick it out, you often will be finding yourself conquering personal demons, obstacles, and otherwise difficult things that find their way into the gym, from the main streams of our lives.

[the killer]

Went and tried the NLP... in not sure how but i feel nothing but calm. i like it

[Gray Lion]

"Every fighter that ever lived had fear. A boy comes to me and tells me that he's not afraid, If I believed him I'd say he's a liar or there's something wrong with him. I'd send him to the doctor to find out what the hell's the matter with him, because this is not a normal reaction. The fighter that's gone into the ring and hasn't experienced fear is either a liar or a psychopath..." [Heller,67]

"I tell them the first time they're going to fight, the night before they probably won't sleep. I can't offer them any consolidaton other then the fact that the other guy went through the same thing, and when they get down to the fight and entr the dressing-room, especially if they're in an amateur fight, the room is full of possible opponents, because they don't know who they're going to fight, and everybody looks calm, confident and smiling and all the new boy is aware of is that terrible thump in his chest, and he's intimidated by their attitude and their confidence. What he doesn't realize is that they look at him and they see the same thing in him as he sees in them, because by an exercise of discipline he also puts on a superficial apearance of confidence..We go on now into the ring. Half the time they're walking when they go down to the ring as though they're going to the gallows. So when they climb those stairs, I never call a fighter yellow. Knowing what he goes through, the very act of climbing into that ring stamps him a person of courage and discipline...." [Cus D'Amato]

[the killer]

Fear is good it helps you stay sharp, but being so afraid that you cannot follow a gameplan in the ring or for some cant even get in the ring, i think that is what the NLP is helping with.