You’re a boxer, a soccer player, a jiujitero, a sambist, a judoka.

Everybody thinks, how do you tune up properly? And today I’m going to tell you three problems that affect your mood.

The First Reason Is The Environment

A lot of people are afraid, and they take that fear out on you, “You know who you’re going to fight? He just tore everybody up out there at the last competition.”

And what do you do? You pile your pants full and think, “Man, I’m going to fight this beast.”

That shouldn’t bother you. When you’re competing, stay away from guys who are negative like that.

I always had two cool friends with me: the first one was a book, and the second one was a computer, a tablet, and I watched positive movies. Going somewhere away from them, or shutting down, not listening to anyone.

Don’t listen to anyone, you are the strongest.

The Second Reason Is Food

When we come to the competition, we go to a good hotel. And what is there?

And there is a buffet – black caviar, red, and all lose their heads. It’s like they came to eat. You have to understand that you shouldn’t trade a medal for food.

It’s better to be hungry and angry than to be full and kind. Don’t overeat, don’t eat, especially foods you’ve never tried.

Anything new is stressful for your body.

And The Third Problem, Which I Thought Was Insignificant

But when I started sticking to this rule, I got results. It’s the warm-up.

You have to have a very powerful warm-up. No matter what kind of competition you’re in, you still get scared.

And when you’re afraid, adrenaline is released, and you get scared. To help your body burn off this adrenaline, fear, you need a good warm-up.

I remember, I always warmed up with Vitya Savinov, a six-time world champion, he warmed me up like that, we just fought.

You’re a track and field athlete – the same thing, you’re a boxer – you have to stretch so that you sweat like a stream.

I’m sure you’ve noticed in your trainings that you’ve warmed up, you’ve fought one match, the second one, and in the third match you could feel your strength.

That’s how you have to stretch at competitions, so that you feel that you’re really energized.