You wouldn’t dream of stepping onto the strip without a physical warm-up. No one walks into a bout cold – no footwork, no blade work, no stretching – and expects their body to perform at its best. Everyone understands that muscles need preparation.

But what about your brain? Most fencers think that their mental state is some “inherit” attribute of their personality, they either have it or not. Most perceive there are “naturally born” athletes with superior mental ability. If a fencer, believing in their own “mental inferiority” cracks under the pressure of competition during the tough moment, they easily explain it as a natural consequence of their personal trait.

I believe mental toughness is as developable as others. As with any skill, there are people that acquire it faster than others, but with proper training, motivation and discipline, this skill can be developed to a high level.

And whatever your current mental state is, to achieve high level performance your brain needs warm-up just as much as your body does. And yet, most fencers spend an hour warming up their bodies and zero minutes warming up their minds.

Fencing is lightning-fast. You’re making tactical decisions in fractions of a second while your opponent is simultaneously trying to outsmart you. There’s no time to think through your emotions or talk yourself into a better mindset mid-phrase. Your brain needs to already be in the right state when “Fence!” is called.

In a DE bout you have to maintain that mental state throughout all these stressful moments. When you are down 10-14, your brain wants to scream about how badly this is going. To counter these negative thoughts, you need to be able to shut them down, adjust your tactics immediately while managing your frustration, and score five straight touches. 

Fencing is combat and you’re constantly evaluating yourself against the intelligence of your opponent. When your mind isn’t prepared, when you’re starting from a negative or anxious state, you’ve given your opponent an advantage before the first touch is even scored.

If you think that you can leave your mental preparation for competition, you miss a point. Mental preparation isn’t just for competition. You can’t suddenly flip a switch and expect your brain to perform at its best under pressure if you haven’t trained it to do so, just like you can’t show up at a tournament and expect perfect footwork if you cut corners during your practice.

Mental warm-up needs to be part of your regular training in every lesson, every drill and every bout, even if it’s a practice bout with your teammate. You’re not just building technical skills – you’re training your brain to operate in a confident, resilient state.

This post is about how to prepare your mind, not just for competition, but as a regular part of how you train and improve.

The Magic Ratio

A while ago I wrote a post about a research in psychology called the “Magic Ratio” – the optimal balance between positive and negative feedback that allows people to perform at their best. It’s approximately 5:1. Five pieces of positive reinforcement for every one piece of constructive criticism. .

Why does this matter for fencing? Because your brain, like your body, performs better when it’s properly prepared. Just like you wouldn’t go straight from sitting in the car to doing lunges at maximum speed, you shouldn’t go straight from normal consciousness to absorbing critical feedback about what you’re doing wrong.

You need to warm up mentally to build confidence and getting your brain into a state where it can actually process and integrate criticism instead of just spiraling into “I suck at this.”

Here’s how to do it – whether you’re in a private lesson, training with teammates, or even drilling on your own. It’s a simple 5-step process that feels both familiar and is easy to implement.

Step 1: Start in Your Comfort Zone

Begin with something you’re already good at. Not something you’re perfect at, but something you can execute competently without thinking too hard.

This might be basic footwork you’ve been doing for years. Simple parry-riposte or disengage drills. Distance work. Whatever it is for you – the action or drill where you feel competent and confident.

This is when you are building momentum. You’re getting your brain into a state of “I can do this” rather than “I’m struggling.” That mental state matters for everything that comes next.

If you’re drilling with a partner, pick something you’re both comfortable with. If you’re in a lesson with your coach, they should start with actions you’ve already mastered. You probably noticed that when you start your private lesson, every time your coach starts with a “simple” action – just a simple direct touch, then add one disengage, when a simple parry 4. They do it not only to condition your body toward the lesson, but also to make sure mentally you start from the place “I can do it!” when a bit later you move to a complex combination that you aren’t yet comfortable with.

So when you start your training, spend real time in your comfort zone. Don’t rush through this just to get to the “hard stuff.” This is the foundation.

Step 2: Positive Reinforcement – Deliberately and Specifically

As you’re working through these comfortable drills, you need specific positive feedback, a concrete acknowledgment of what’s going well.

If you’re working with a coach, they should be giving you this: “That distance control was perfect.” “Great recovery after that lunge.” “Your timing on that parry was exactly right.” Most coaches will do exactly that, well, maybe using different words, but typically this is a general message.

If you’re drilling with a partner, you should be giving this to each other: “That felt solid.” “Your blade work was really clean there.” “Nice footwork staying on the line.”

If you’re drilling alone, you need to give this to yourself. Yes, it feels super weird. Do it anyway. “That was good.” “Nice extension.” “Solid form.”

Don’t think it’s a fake positivity. This is deliberate recognition of what’s actually working. You’re training your brain to notice success, not just problems.

This is your mental warm-up. Just like your body needs blood flowing to the muscles before you push them hard, your brain needs confidence flowing before you can handle criticism effectively.

Step 3: Increase Intensity While Maintaining Positivity

Now start making the drills harder, whatever “harder” means for what you’re working on. It can be anything – more complex actions, or faster pace, or more realistic pressure – anything that fits this category for you. 

But keep the positive reinforcement going. As you push yourself, keep noticing what’s working and keep acknowledging the good executions alongside the mistakes.

And then you will see an interesting phenomenon –  you can push much harder and maintain better form when your brain is in a positive state. The confidence you’ve built makes you more willing to commit fully to actions. You become less hesitant and much more decisive.

That’s how brains actually work: confidence allows for better execution while fear and doubt create hesitation and tension. Examine other areas of your life and you’ll see how true this statement is.

Stay in this phase longer than feels necessary. You’re building both technical skill and mental resilience, and they both matter.

Step 4: Introduce Constructive Feedback

At this point you can start weaving in the critical feedback, be it the technical corrections or tactical adjustments. This is when you can safely say to yourself “here’s what you need to fix.”

Because you’ve warmed up mentally, your brain can actually hear this feedback without spiraling. You can integrate “your distance was wrong on that attack” without it becoming “I’m terrible at distance” which becomes “I’m terrible at fencing” which becomes “why do I even do this sport.”

The criticism lands differently when your brain is already in a confident state. It becomes information you can use rather than confirmation of your inadequacy.

If you’re working with a coach, this is when they shift from “that was good” to “here’s what needs to change.” If you’re drilling with a partner, this is when you start giving each other honest technical feedback.

If you’re alone, this is when you start critically analyzing your own execution. But because you’ve already acknowledged what’s working, you can look at what needs improvement without it feeling like a comprehensive indictment of your fencing.

This phase should be shorter than the build-up. Maybe the last quarter of your session. You’ve done the mental preparation – now you can handle the mental challenge.

Step 5: End With Positive Reinforcement

And one of the most important points is that you must end your training session with positive acknowledgment.

Point out specific growth. “You were getting deeper on your lunges by the end.” “Your timing improved significantly over the last few drills.” “That last exchange was exactly what we were working toward.” “That double disengage – wow, that was classic!”

Your brain needs to consolidate what you just learned and this acknowledgement of your actual progress achieves this.

If you’re working with a partner, make sure you both identify something specific the other person did well. If you’re alone, take literally 30 seconds to think “what did I actually improve on today?”

At the end you can even do some short drills that “feel good,” when you know you can execute successfully. Don’t finish on a drill that didn’t go well. Finish on something that you can execute correctly. Good coaches will never finish their private lesson on a drill that goes wrong. They will simplify it so their student ends on a high note. Think about your last private lesson and you’ll recall this.

This final positive note is what your brain remembers. It’s what you carry forward to the next training session. It’s how you build sustainable improvement instead of grinding yourself down with constant criticism.

Why This Matters More in Competition

Everything I just described applies to training. But it matters even more in competition.

Before your pool starts, what’s your mental warm-up look like? Are you catastrophizing about your seeding? Obsessing about who you drew in your pool? Replaying your last tournament loss?

Or are you building confidence? Reminding yourself of actions that work well for you? Visualizing successful executions? Praise yourself on your preparation for this tournament or your self-discipline? Getting your brain into a state where it can perform?

Between pool bouts, are you spiraling about the touches you gave away? Or are you acknowledging what worked while making tactical adjustments?

After pools, before your DE, do you have 30 minutes of mental recovery? Or are you spending that entire time in negative self-talk?

The fencers who perform consistently well aren’t just technically superior. They’re mentally prepared. They’ve warmed up their brains alongside their bodies. They can handle any stress in a bout because they’re not starting from a place of mental fragility.

If you step onto the strip mentally cold and the first touch goes against you, your unprepared brain jumps straight to “this is going badly.” That thought creates hesitation which costs you more touches. And you’re down 1-5 before your brain even gets warm enough to function properly.

This is exactly like jumping into a bout without physical warm-up. We’d never do that to our bodies. Why do we constantly do it to our brains?

Making This Practical

I believe that it is actually easy to implement this mental preparation if you have intention.

Before competition and training, start with something you’re good at and acknowledge what’s working. Remind yourself of actions that work. Visualize successful execution. Get your brain into “I can do this” mode before you step on the strip.

When things go wrong (and they will) during the bout, on your way back to the en guard line, quickly acknowledge something that worked before addressing what needs to change, while framing it positively. “That distance was good, but I need to adjust my timing.” Not just “my timing sucked.” See the difference between “I need to adjust my timing” and “my timing sucks”? When you tell yourself something needs to be better adjusted you create a workable situation and will eventually fix it. When something “sucks”, you can forget about fixing this. You engrained this negativity into your brain. 

After your bouts, win or lose, identify something specific that went well before you dive into analysis of what went wrong. You aren’t denying problems, you’re giving your brain the foundation it needs to actually address them.

No matter the outcome of your competition, always strive to create an environment where improvement happens through confidence, not constant criticism.

Treat your mind as you treat your body – with constant preparation and positive reinforcement. Warm it up alongside your body. Notice what’s working before fixing what’s broken. End every session with acknowledgment of progress, not just cataloging of failures.

As a result your technique will improve faster, your competitive performance will be more consistent, and you’ll actually enjoy the process instead of grinding yourself down with constant negativity.

Photo: Serge Timacheff