How Float Tanks Can Improve Your Fighting

Ever wonder how a Float Tank could help your fighting?

Pay close attention: I’m about to give you six specific techniques you can use immediately improve your fight performance.

These techniques are based on high-level visualization methods.

Visualization is a powerful tool that has always been used by fighters and athletes in all fields.

The interesting thing is that visualization, and even vivid hallucinations, can become much easier in the float tank. The body and mind reach an extremely deep state of relaxation. And there’s no sensory input at all. What does this really mean? This means your mind is truly free to let go and explore.. in more ways than one.

What you might notice immediately: intensely relaxed states in the float tank. These ultra-relaxed states are similar to experiences of very deep meditation or hypnosis. For this reason, people often report slipping into incredibly lucid visualizations in float tanks.

The techniques I’ll cover are special tools to apply in the float tank. With these specific techniques, you’ll improve your fight performance more effectively than simply “meditating” alone or visualizing your fight normally.

Of course, the results a fighter really wants can vary between fighters and specific fights. Maybe you just want your hand raised in your next fight. Or maybe you’ve got higher ambitions – like a World Championship. Or, maybe you want a very specific ending – like dropping a nuclear hellbow in a split-second window of opportunity. In any case, you can apply these techniques “within” your lucid float tank visualizations. This really means you can get closer to exact fight goals.

What is a Float Tank?

First, let’s get clear on what exactly a “float tank” is. They’re also called “sensory deprivation” chambers or “isolation tanks.” Technically, they’ve been around since the 1950’s.

Flotation therapy was originally developed by neuroscientist Dr. John Lilly. The entire floating process is built upon a scientific approach to deep relaxation called Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique, or R.E.S.T. This is done in the “float tank.” A float tank is a chamber that can vary in size, oftentimes it is the size of a large freezer, and it is filled with about 18″ of water. Simple enough so far.

Now, somewhere between 800 to 1200 pounds of epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) are dissolved into the water, making it extremely buoyant. So buoyant that you will immediately be floating on the surface of the water. And extremely comfortably. The water is the exact same temperature as the surface of your skin (or very close), and so is the air. The chamber is entirely soundproof, and completely black. So what precisely does this do?

This means when you’re floating atop the water, you essentially “feel nothing” because you can’t tell where your body “stops” or “begins.” And you hear nothing, you see nothing. Zero input. It literally feels as if your brain, your consciousness, is freely floating by itself in space. Imagine your thoughts with no “container” and no input to distract them. No sound, no sights, no feeling. You’re totally relaxed and your consciousness simply let go. It can easily feel as if your brain is completely free, and your thoughts can expand to fill an entire universe.

The stimulation of the central nervous system now is drastically reduced. And the mind is able to enter into an extremely deep level of relaxation. A level of depth that one does not experience in regular waking consciousness. One would typically have to undergo years of meditation training, or undergo hypnosis, in order to achieve a such an experience that allows a higher level of Theta brain waves. Generally this is 4-7 cycles of brainwave activity, which basically means REALLY DEEP relaxation. Often times, a deeper level of relaxation than anyone has experienced in a conscious state. Similar to a theta-level trance in hypnosis, or extremely deep meditation. And since there is no external stimulation, so sights or sounds and very restricted kinesthetic sensory input… the mind has the perfect space to really go wild and visualize. Even hallucinate. And in a very lucid way, oftentimes with the floater “direct his own adventure” and choosing and exploring his thoughts and hallucinations in real time.

Benefits of Floating

Beyond simply plugging into enhanced visualization, like hypnosis, there are a host of commonly reported physical and mental benefits:

-Lowered blood pressure
-Decreases in cortisol (stress hormone)
-Correlated with reduced markers of bodily distress syndrome (BDS is linked to fibromyalgia, somatization disorder, and chronic fatigue syndrome)
-May help with symptoms of depression
-May help with symptoms of addiction or withdrawal
-Improved immune function
-Improved healing of injuries (Special Forces soldiers use float tanks to help improve recovery from a variety of circumstances and injuries)

And the popularity of floating is surging. According to float tank industry reports, the United States skyrocketed from 50 float centers in 2011 to over 300 float in 2015. And today’s numbers are even higher (I’ll include a link to a list of Float Centers throughout North America at the end of this article).

The Joe Rogan Effect

Now, the “recent” explosion in popularity can be heavily attributed to Joe Rogan himself. Most people know Rogan as a life-long martial arts proponent and BJJ black belt under Eddie Bravo. Rogan is also the reason so many fighters have taken to the float tank to relax, recover, meditate, and develop their own minds (I’ll include a video of a popular compilation of Joe Rogan’s thoughts on floating below).

Rogan even held a contest to give away his old Samadhi tank when he had his new one installed. “Samadhi” in Hindu and Buddhist contexts often refers to a “meditative consciousness.” Essentially, a state of intense concentration achieved through meditation – exactly what one experiences in the float tank.

Rogan has been floating since 2003. On the Joe Rogan Experience podcast #417 he speaks extensively about his experiences. A number of fighters who I personally work with started floating after hearing Joe Rogan’s endorsements. Additionally, I know of at least flotation center has opened on the influence of Rogan’s personal accounts. And here’s the really cool thing:

Most elements of using the tank to improve fight outcomes haven’t even been touched yet by most fighters. As the foremost visualization expert for professional fighters, I can tell you the number of fighters who use visualization *effectively* is much lower than it could be. There’s two major reasons for this. First, fighters (and much more so coaches and trainers) typically have not learned more powerful techniques. Describing techniques of visualizations to coaches is often an uphill battle compared to fighters, who oftentimes already utilize a personal version of visualization. Secondly, there is a bit of a “discipline” gap. Top performers, absolute legends, across all sports have used visualization routines. Many of them were utilizing intense, disciplined daily routines. Michael Phelps. Muhammad Ali. Dan Gable. Tiger Woods. All of these athletes used visualization to a high degree in very disciplined ways. When there is a solid commitment to training the mind as intensely as the body – We’re likely to see another high-level evolution in performance and problem-solving in the fight world.

Combat Athletes Who Have Tapped Into the Power of Proper Visualization

Here’s a few accounts of dominant combat athletes, and their experiences with visualization. I list these specifically even though they were used outside of the float tank, because they can be utilized that much more easily within the tank:

Mike Tyson

“The goal of all this was to build confidence in the fighter. Confidence was everything. But in order to possess that confidence, you had to test yourself and put yourself on the line. It doesn’t come from osmosis, out of the air. It comes from consistently going over the visualization in your mind to help you develop the confidence that you want to possess.”

Source: How I became the heavyweight champion of the world, TheWeek.Com, By Mike Tyson

Dan Gable

“With success, I began to visualize myself competing in future Olympic Games. Throughout my wrestling and coaching, I have continued this use of imagery. Athletes and coaches must visualize greatness to achieve it. Well before competitions, wrestlers and wrestling coaches must see themselves performing positively in their upcoming events. Imagery is a great source of motivation, and it can be very helpful in learning and refining certain wrestling techniques and tactics. If done correctly, imagery is similar to ‘live’ drilling on the mat, where wrestlers feel, see, smell, and hear themselves performing perfectly.”

Source: Coaching Wrestling Successfully, By Dan Gable

Muhammad Ali

“Muhammad Ali, in particular, was famous for his accurate future histories. In 1962, he publicly predicted that he would win the fight against veteran boxer Archie Moore. Ali said, ‘Archie Moore will fall in four,’ meaning round four of 12. Moore responded saying he had perfected a new punch called the ‘The Lip-Buttoner,’ which was a dig that Ali should shut his mouth.

Sure enough, Ali beat Moore with a knockout in the fourth round.

This wasn’t the only time that Ali predicted the defeat of an opponent, down to the exact round, and he attributed this to a powerful visualization technique called, ‘future history.’

Prior to a fight, Ali would visualize progressing through the whole event and seeing himself at the end, with his arms raised in the air and the referee proclaiming him the champion. He would visualize this so vividly, with total commitment and belief. He would hear the crowds cheering and shouting his name. He would feel how amazing it felt to win. He was totally in the zone. All his energy and focus would then be directed to making this happen. He would immerse himself in his imagination and experience the fight over and over again.”

Conor McGregor

“Visualization

He attributes his success in the ring to visualization techniques. He reiterated this fact when he knocked out Aldo at UFC 194. He said that once you can see it, speak it and it will happen. He sees himself triumphing over these individuals and then it will happen.”

Source: Conor Mcgregor: The Most Explosive Fighter On the Planet, By Bill Stonehem

Jon Jones

“I used to meditate a lot. Now I’m more into visualization. Right around 2010, 2011, I went through this huge spiritual thing, where I became obsessed with the power of the mind. I got into it deep, like really deep. Just meditation, and visualization, and realizing just how powerful our minds actually are, like how we really do paint our worlds with our thoughts and our level of self-belief. … I took myself to a different place mentally, and a lot of it came from mental practice, and meditation, and visualization, and seeking knowledge from people who are strong believers..”

Source: Joe Rogan Experience Podcast #880

Advantages of the Disciplined Approach

Now if you read between the lines, you’ll immediately notice something interesting. Each of the combat athletes above were approaching visualization with a heightened degree of discipline, strategy, and specialized methods.

Tyson specifically mentions consistent repetition of the visualizations. This is a key component of the visualization I do with all my fighters, emphasizing repetition, specialized intervals, and multiple occurrences of key events and strikes.

Dan Gable says one “must visualize greatness to achieve it.” And that visualization should take place “well before competitions.” He even makes the distinction of when visualization and imagery is “done correctly..” that it is “similar to ‘live’ drilling on the mat.” This suggests there is indeed a more correct way, and some not-so-great ways.

Ali makes some key distinctions as well. He would specifically visualize his arms raised in the air and hear the referee proclaiming him the champion, which is a technique we use with fighters at multiple points of times, and in multiple sequences (different sequences and timeframes will have different effects on different fighters – it’s a very individualized process at the highest levels of performance).

Conor puts a premium on being able to “speak it” out loud after he sees it – another way to deepen the feeling of confidence in the visualization itself (again – this is a highly individualized method, there are different keys that each individual fighter will respond best to).

And Jon Jones makes an incredibly astute distinction: “I used to meditate a lot. Now I’m more into visualization.” There are huge differences between the two. Meditation may be as simple as falling into a very relaxed state, and “emptying the mind.” This certainly has it’s own benefits. But visualization, or under direction with hypnosis, or going through specific exercises in a float tank, can create further advantages since you actually have a goal or outcome in mind. There’s a magnificent difference between “meditating” and “doing something while you’re there.” If meditating or simply clearing your mind is like taking pre-workout, then deliberate float tank visualization or guided hypnosis would be like adding in the actual workout.

Six Key Techniques for Fight Visualization in the Float Tank

And that brings us to the use of these six specialized techniques. Spend time with them – incorporate them into your training. Where and when you can, do them daily. And treat them every bit as seriously as you do your physical training.

Technique #1: “Lis Fob” Method

This is a technique that simply brings into consciousness multiple elements which make a visualization effective, using a mnemonic device. The elements are the three primary senses, and also breathing.

The three senses that generally comprise our visualized experiences are Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic.

Visual is what we see in our visualizations. Auditory is what we hear, or the sounds. Kinesthetic is what we feel. There are distinctions that go much deeper, however for our purposes in this article, we’ll operate with these three senses.

Now, what many people lack in their visualization, is an element that ties things all together: Breathing. If you visualize your breathing at the rate and depth that you want for your performance, you can add an entirely new element to your visualization.

So we can describe the elements as:

-Looks (Visual)
-Sounds (Auditory)
-Feels (Kinesthetic), and
-Breathing

So, (L)ooks, (S)ounds, (F)eels, and (B)reathing are the elements you’ll want to focus on.

Written by the first letter only: LSFB. Which gives us the mnemonic device “LiS FoB” becomes super easy to remember within your visualization.

Now, all you need to do when you’ve reached an extremely relaxed state in the float tank, is simply go through your fight visualization, remembering “Lis Fob” during all key events. Perhaps you’re shooting the perfect single leg. Going through LiS FoB, you’ll imagine:

What does this (L)ook like?
What are the (S)ounds involved?
What does this physically (F)eel like?
And how are you (B)reathing during this takedown?

All of these things will serve to deepen the visualization experience, since putting such focus on individual elements brings in more information sometimes than the actual experience, because we tend to filter a out a lot, and focus on one sense more than the other in waking consciousness. All this can serve, once the opportunity arises, to help you feel as though you’ve already been there, you know what to do, and now it’s just a matter of letting it happen or “doing it again, in real life.”

The elements become extremely easy to focus on, and cycle through, in real-time in a visualization when you simply remember “LiS FoB.”

Technique #2: Freezing Time & “Micro-Moments”

“Micro-Moments” are a term I coined to describe split-second windows of opportunity, that can almost seem to expand when you’ve rehearsed the outcome over and over again. Think of, in your visualization of the fight, a specific strike, sequence, or combo that you want to execute. Let’s say you’re going to feign a jab near your opponent’s head to get him to draw out his hand, then you’re going to follow up with a hard cross when there’s an opening.

What you’re do here is very simple, and extremely powerful. As you are throwing your jab, watch him draw his hand out to defend it. Now, imagine that you “freeze time.” Make time and movement come to a complete halt, except for you. Your opponent is frozen in time. The fans are frozen still. The ref, completely frozen. All sound is frozen. It’s often good to attach a physical symbol to this, to differentiate it psychologically. So you may step out of the ring to pull batteries out of a clock. Just as the opponent’s hand may be drawn forward to defend against the jab, you can imagine a clock on the wall shattering. Now your opponent “freezes” as “time” freeze. He’s stuck in that position, and you have free reign to drop your thunderous cross on his chin. Here’s where it becomes really powerful: All time is processed in the mind as a function of relativity. So you can imagine dropping that powerful cross ten times fast as you see his hand frozen there, leaving an opening. You can imagine your breath being perfect to take advantage of this opportunity. You can imagine zooming in on exactly where on the chin, down to the very millimeter, that you’re going to strike. You can mentally reposition yourself for comfort and power, and ease of delivery. You can feel yourself hitting him as he’s frozen, and make any corrections that you need to within the visualization, so it feels better and feels “just right.” And if you’ve followed Technique #1 (highly recommended), you can go through the full “LiS FoB” sequence here, in “frozen” time.

By the time the actual fight unfolds, and that opportunity to feign the jab comes, and draw his hand out to defend… you might just find you’ll suddenly feel like you’ve been there many times before.

(In hypnosis, there’s a concept referred to in “time distortion” that can take people much further down this rabbit hole. I’ll have a book out in 2019 that will delve a little deeper into these topics).

Technique #3: Shifting into Multiple Angles and Perspective

Have you ever used Google Maps to find a destination before? Most of us have – and many of us are familiar with a particular phenomenon.

Let’s say I’m looking up Jim’s Bar and Grill, and it’s on the corner of Main Street and 10th Ave.

The directions, on street view, show me exactly what Jim’s Bar and Grill looks like from Main Street. I get a very particular view of it, that was snapped by the Google robo-car thing. But the interesting thing is, if I come from 10th street, a totally different angle, I’ll still almost immediately recognize the place I’m looking for. The mind knows you saw the view from Main Street, but you’re still very familiar with it and can just “tell” that it’s the right place if you come in from 10th street. Or if you walk to the place. Simply seeing a vivid, lifelike, “street view” picture from a different angle gives your mind all the info it needs to instantly recognize the destination, and it just feels right.

Now, here’s the really cool thing. Using the same technique in visualizing your fight, can make a particular outcome “just feel right” in any given moment in a fight. And sometimes this helps create a level of belief and expectancy in your outcome, that the body can respond just a split second fast – which can mean the winning edge at times.

So you’ll simply do this: Pick 5-10 different angles of the outcome you would like. Visualize in detail what this outcome looks like from each of the angles, and use LiS FoB from all of the angles.

Examples of angles and perspectives you can use, on a perfect KO Hellbow:
-Visualize your elbow landing from your corner/coaches perspective.
-Visualize your elbow KO’ing your opponent from above the cage, looking straight down.
-Visualize your knockout elbow hitting your opponent from “beneath” the cage looking up, as if the canvas were plexiglas.
-Visualize your elbow landing from your opponent’s corner.
-Visualize how it looks when you KO your opponent from the stands.
-Visualize how your KO elbow looks from the referee’s position.

If you systematically work through all of these angles, you’ll quickly find that you have an enhanced level of familiarity with the position when it arrives in the fight.

(Also, the rabbit hole does go quite a bit deeper on this one as well, in NLP and hypnosis. If you’d like to take it to a next level, feel free to submit an inquiry on the website)

Technique #4: “Breakthrough” States

This is an extremely powerful technique. Once you grasp why it is so effective, it makes perfect sense.

What the technique requires is that you simply get to a point where you need a “breakthrough.” A place of extreme exertion, or exhaustion, or a difficult place in a fight that you need to power through.

Let’s say for instance, you’re standing and banging with your opponent, and it’s the end of the 5th round in a championship fight. Both of you are struggling, have caught a number of heavy leg kicks, your arms are both shot, and you both are having a hell of time even keeping your hands up still.

There’s a thought process that’s popular in the Navy SEAL community – “When you think you’re finished, you’re about 40% finished.” Meaning, you’ve got a long way to go after you simply think or feel like you’re exhausted. You’re really nowhere close to finished.

What happens now, when you’re at the end of the fifth round? Let me ask this: What are your chances of hitting a perfect liver shot, within 10 seconds exact moment? Got your answer? Good. Now let me change just one element: The person you love most in this world will be shot in the back of the head at point-blank range, if you don’t successfully land a liver shot in the next 10 seconds.

Does that change the likelihood that you’ll land it? For most people – such intense emotional leverage has the capacity to draw more out of them. Even when they believe they were “exhausted” or nearly finished.

So knowing that we do, in fact, have deeper emotional reserves that allow us to do the “impossible” at times – this technique is simply a matter of apply a thought process, or intense frame of mind, to what you need to get done.

Powerful “Breakthrough” states can include:
“I have 10 seconds to blast out my second wind – Or I’ll regret it forever.”
“My fatigue is only feedback – I can choose to listen to it, or not.”
“Now is the moment I decide my legacy.”
“I can go all out for the next ten seconds.” (You can keep repeating every ten seconds until round is done – Similar to Terry Fox’s idea when he ran 3,339 across Canada with a prosthetic leg to raise money for cancer research and hopefully a cure one day – He kept telling himself ‘I just need to make it to the next telephone pole.’)

The key here is to visualize the exact thought process and shift that happens physiologically as you “break through” to the empowered state, and do it with LiS FoB. The “B” in LiS FoB, “Breathing”, will be especially key here as you break through into another state/mindset.

When you do this “Breakthrough” visualization in a deeply relaxed state in the float tank, your mind will remember that “switch” or transition to the breakthrough. This means it will feel that much more natural to instantly and powerfully dig much deeper at a “breakthrough” point in your fight.

Two Final Visualization Techniques that are ESPECIALLY Powerful in a Float Tank

The last two techniques are especially well-suited to the float tank. Specifically because the absence of any stimulation allows often causes the mind to go REALLY deep into thoughts and ideas about “self” and “ego” that may not come up otherwise. For many people, this can become almost a spiritual experience, by having only your thoughts existing, and nothing to influence or guide them. Pure imagination, reflection.

As Joe Rogan states, “The first 20 minutes or so, for me at least, is like sort of a seminar on my life. It shows me all the different issues in my life that I don’t like that I need to fix and things that are bothering me, and things about my own behavior that could have been better, and things where I’m disappointed with myself, and it’ll show me some things where I’m on the right track: this is good, continue here, continue doing this, continue thinking like this, continue exploring these ideas…”

This lessening and dissipation of the ego and concept of self makes the next two techniques especially powerful within the float tank:

Technique #5: Creating and Leveraging Identity

A universally powerful practice is to visualize yourself with the very identity that you desire. Spending 5-10 minutes a day seeing yourself as a Champion. Seeing yourself wake, eat, train, sleep, go about all of your daily activities as a champion.

This particular technique uses identity in an especially powerful way. This technique leverages desired/chosen identity to overcome challenges, plateaus, and inspire second winds.

The implementation is extremely simple: Get to the point of challenge in your fight, where you need to draw “a little something extra.”

Then, simply ask yourself a question similar to the following, and have the answer you desire in mind:

“Who am I becoming by pushing through this?” (A champion!) Or any question/statement that brings your desired/chosen identity into play.
“Who am I becoming by pushing an extra 20% for the rest of this hour?”
“Who am I becoming by getting here early, and staying later than everyone?”
“What kind of outstanding father am I being by always, always, always moving forward, no matter what happens?”
“What kind of coach am I becoming by doing my very best?”
“What kind of trainer am I becoming by training with purpose and intention?”

If I am operating from the frame that I am setting an example for my nephew that one can ALWAYS intensify their focus and effort to get the job done, you can bet that I’ll look different three rounds in on the pads, than if I was just “hitting the pads.” I could ask myself the identity level “What kind of role model am I becoming for my nephew” while I visualize pulling more out of myself on the pads, and that elevated drive and desire for excellence can translate into the physical realm very quickly.

This technique is especially well-suited to enhancing your training, not just performing on fight night. After all, if one can improve intensity, output, and technique routinely in training, by default one will almost always fight better.

These questions and ideas may seem very simple (they are), and they can also work very well in normal visualization. But in a float tank, where there is a lot more introspection that often occurs, you can reach another level with this technique.

Technique #6: Imagining Outcomes Extending to Other Areas in Life

The final technique is one that is almost universally ignored in visualization (though Conor McGregor has repeatedly mentioned using this element in visualization, in interviews).

This technique involves visualizing how outcomes, positive performances, and goals create a positive effect in other areas of life. Again, this is a powerful technique in visualization, but becomes especially powerful in the float tank due to a lessened or more fluid idea of self and identity.

The structure itself is very simple. Take the positive outcome or desired goal – then simply visualize how it becomes advantageous in other areas of life.

For instance, let’s say the goal is to win a World Championship in Boxing, in an upcoming title fight. With this, we could look at three other areas of life that are important:

-Personal relationships
-Finances
-Status/Power

These three tend to work extremely well. Now, in the float tank, once you have visualized the goal of winning the World Championship fight, you’ll begin visualizing the positive benefits in these three areas.

Personal relationships: What does this World Championship mean now in terms of who you are dating? The people who want to hang around you? How good does it feel walking the strip in Las Vegas, with everyone recognizing you as a World Champion? What kind of positive effects can you have with your personal relationships, what people can you connect with and inspire? All these can become powerful leverage points for you.

Finances: What does this World Championship mean in terms of a payday for you? How does it benefit you in terms of being able to get future fights, and negotiate your checks? What kind of opportunities does this World Championship win create for you in terms of sponsorships? Get very clear on these positive feelings involved here, and use LiS FoB to visualize them thoroughly.

Status/Power: What kind of respect do you command now, having accomplished such a noteworthy and remarkable feat in winning a World Championship? How many people are now seeking your advice, or your expert opinion? How much more powerfully have you positioned yourself in the fight world, or the business world in general?

Once you comprehensively visualize all the positive impacts your goal will have in these three areas, your brain will take notice and provide you with an enhanced emotional leverage to start making these outcomes come true.

Conor McGregor has stated that he would often dream of “giving back” to the people who had given so much to him. Conor actually used to visualize showing up out of the blue to give back to his loved ones. This is exceptionally powerful and Conor is one of the few who takes his visualizations to this extent. If you choose to visualize using this technique in the float tank, you’ll afford yourself even more powerful outcomes than you might otherwise.

So these are the six techniques you can use immediately in the Float Tank to improve your fight outcomes. You may be familiar with some of my work as “The Fight Hypnotist”, and you can see some of my client results in the video below. I hope you put these techniques into use to further your development and achieve your goals, if you have any questions feel free to reach out through the form below.

—”The Fight Hypnotist” Joshua Manuel, CHt, MPNLP

“The Fight Hypnotist™” Joshua Manuel’s Client Testimonials