“It’s so important,” she said. “It’s equally important, if not more important than the physical side because if your mentality is that you’re unbreakable and you’re going in with confidence, your body will naturally step up. This is what I believe. Other people can have science and things like that, that go against what I’m saying, but in my heart, I truly believe if you’re in the mental space that you can handle anything, your body’s gonna do some crazy s**t and step up to the plate for you to be able to be successful.”
Some studies in sports science back up Yoder’s beliefs, but with an addendum that just believing it and wanting it isn’t enough. As much work as an athlete puts into the physical side of training, the brain has to be worked just as hard.
“I’m at the gym more than anyone,” said the Team Quest standout. “The only other person that works as hard as me is Sam Alvey. We’re in the gym, training, training, training. And people say your confidence comes in the fact that you did everything that you could. And in my mind, that’s definitely a part of it, but you have to be training the mental side of it – the mental imagery, the meditation, the days of rest and realizing that we’re not just robots and can just push our bodies to the limits every single day, because if you’re going into a practice tired or broken from being beat down the last practice, you’re not gonna be able to give the 110 percent that you need to give. And then what’s that doing for your confidence? It’s not making it better; you’re just getting another beatdown. So working with this mental coach, he really pushed that on me.”
And now, Ashley Yoder is a complete fighter and a completely different one from the fighter she was the first time around with Angela Hill. On Saturday, she gets to prove it.
“I really have faith in the process and it’s all about process over outcome,” said the 33-year-old. “I’m fully committed and have faith in the process, so the outcome will come. This year I feel is going to be a great year for me, and win, lose or draw, I come to fight, so someone’s gonna get bloody.”
