Customer Reviews

The Fighter's Mind: Inside the Mental Game

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Fighter's Mind is an incredible look at the mental part of competition and life. Through the lens of combat sports, Sam Sheridan goes around the world in search of answers to various questions about how top personalities think about fighting. The book is laid out in the form of short sections about each of the people that Sam talks to. People like Dan Gable, Freddie Roach, Greg Jackson, Renzo Gracie, and Randy Couture answer Sheridan's excellent questions with thoughtful and insightful responses that are presented in such a way that you get a very good look at how they think about the fight game and what in their lives have made them reach that point.

Sam also covers areas outside of fighting, but areas that are thematically related. He talks to David Horton about endurance running, and he talks to Josh Waitzkin about moving from chess to tai chi to jiu-jitsu. In each section, Sheridan lets the subject be as concise or explanatory as they need to be on the page. He interjects his own experience into the responses, always at the correct time and always with an astute bit to enhance what the passage is about.
I'd say that this isn't just the best combat sports book I've read. This is the best sports book I've read. It's the best psychology book I've read. It is as thorough a meditation on the human passion for fighting and testing oneself as has ever been written. If you are at all interested in mixed martial arts, boxing, traditional martial arts, the human mind, or competition, you owe it to yourself to check this book out. As far as Sam Sheridan's catalogue of modern combat sports goes, I can definitely say that he is the A.J. Liebling of this generation.

I am a huge fan of the author's previous work, "A Fighter's Heart" and this book is equally as good. A caution I would pose to a reader: the book is great fun if you read it as a travelogue, rather than a true in depth analysis into sports psychology as it relates to fighting.

As a fan of Sheridan's first book, I was optimistic this would be a good book. I was wrong.

It was great. As each chapter works as a stand alone excerpt, they all tied together beautifully. The insight from such a varied list of fighters (in all styles) like Andre Ward, Marcelo Garcia, Renzo Gracie, and others was
eye opening.

If you consider yourself any fan of fighting or want to know what makes successful competitors tick, you absolutely need to read The Fighter's Mind.

Simply a great read if you're a wrestler, martial artist, or simply a fan of the fight game. Takes a look at the mental aspects of fighting through a series of interviews with fighters from all different disciplines. I highly suggest it.

This is an apt companion to Sam Sheridan's earlier book, "The Fighter's Heart." Either book or both are treats to anyone who is a fan of MMA, the UFC or combative sports. Here, Sheridan tackles "the mental game." I think it was Yogi Berra who said that 50% of sports is 90% mental," or maybe vice versa.

In any event, Sheridan devotes separate chapters to some of the luminaries in martial arts and combative sports, including but not limited to Pat Militech, Greg Jackson, Renzo Gracie and Frank Shamrock. Some may be off-put by Sheridan's inclusion of an ultra-distance runner, but I think it fit. Ultra-runners "fight" through fatigue and boredom to break through physical and mental barriers.

View "The Fighter's Mind" as a buffet for the MMA set. You may not be crazy about all the dishes and offerings, but for me, there was enough here to be an entertaining feast. If you are a participant in MMA, martial arts or combative sports or a fan, you owe it to yourself to read "The Fighter's Mind." In fact, even if you do NOT fall into any of these categories, you can gain insights here to take your "game" - whether mental or physical - to the next, higher, level.

Lessons here abound and transcend the ring, wrestling mat, dojo or Octagon.

Like with his first book, which I enjoyed immensely, Sam Sheridan comes across as very genuine and sincere, and he's a decent writer to boot. My only gripe with both of his books is the odd chapter I can only read as filler -- fighter dogs in his first book; distance runners in this one. What's the point?

Other than that, solid insight. The Marcelo Garcia and Randy Couture chapters alone are worth the price of the book. And Sheridan talking about his own struggles as a writer regarding the distinction between nervousness and excitement was helpful to me, personally. And contrasting Dan Gable's superhuman but ultimately seemingly joyless grind with someone like Kenny Florian: nice.

Looking forward to Sheridan's next one.

I have read a "Fighters Heart" (Sheridan's first book) multiple times and loved it. This book was similar to a Fighter's Heart but lacked the charm and adventure. What I really enjoyed about the first book was Sam's personal journey and dealing with his own inner turmoil. I find Sam's self revelations through training more interesting than the majority of his interviews in a Fighters Heart. His interviews were not as revealing or introspective as I would have hoped for. Will read again because I do find the mental game a super interesting aspect of the fight game.

As Bobola said, this is a must read for those who's hobby/profession is in sports or psychology.

Each chapter Sam generally focuses on lessons learned from interviewing a fighter. Since fighters spend a lot of time with each other, other fighters' advice always find their way in there. Regardless, some chapter's advice is pretty straight forward (out work your competition), yet other chapters provide real gems.

For example, one chapter discusses an experiment on kids. One group was told they were special, that they are intelligent just for who they are. Another group weren't taught they were special, but taught how to incrementally improve. When faced with defeat, the incremental kids bounced back quicker...that the *inheriently special* kids were "brittle". What does that tell you about how to train fighters, how to raise children, etc. in this narcissistic-riddled country.

Finally, the book kept surprising me. I liked that. For example, Frank Shamrock's entrance to MMA was pretty late in his life, plus he initially had an aversion to violence...and yet he overcame all that so QUICKLY that he dominated the sport (probably before his prime!).

So why only four stars? I dunno. It felt like Sam was trying to please too many audiences. There were quite a few passages that I just didn't care about. But to me, four stars means it's a darn good book...and important too.

With interviews from some of the best fighters and trainers in mixed martial arts and boxing, The Fighter's Mind is replete with the insights and words of wisdom of the elite in the fight game. The author travels to different top-notch gyms across the country, asking about the mental side of fighting.

With interviews from Frank Shamrock, Freddie Roach, and Greg Jackson and many others, you get to go briefly inside the minds of the best of the best. At about midway through the book, however, you pretty much get the point: if you want to great at fighting (or anything) you need to have a burning desire to be great, an obsession, really. That obsession, coupled with unshakable self-confidence in oneself, is what creates champions (among other things, of course).

The only problem I had with this book is that it kinda lost steam towards the end. After reading about two-thirds of the book, you begin to see the common thread between elite warriors, and it starts to get a little redundant. Ok, work very hard, want it more than anything else, and just believe, never give up...gotcha. And some fighters spoke of fighting in a very philosophical, poetic way that didn't make much sense, or at least not at first. The author goes into that tangentially in the final chapter titled "The Long Koan."

Overall, a decent book. It has all the ingredients to inspire and motivate, even if you have no serious interest in fighting.

I was hesitant at first given my dislike of the authors writing style in his first book, I gave this book a shot and was not disappointed. The author focused less on himself and more on the actual fighters. We didn't have to hear about his constant problems with injury or excuses. This was a much better story of the actual fighters and the mental aspect of their sports.