Originally Posted by asherlighn
Now that I think about it, I used to be very aggressive while doing sports before I started martial arts. That was during high school, so its possible that martial arts have nothing to do with it and I just matured, but who knows?
No I think martial arts and other fighting disciplines, boxing for one, really help people with self control under very high stress. Beginning fighters will have their panic switches thrown easily and as a result have problems with pacing and strategy. It's actually similar for foot races and bike racing. The gun goes off and the beginner athlete is thrown into panic mode, wherein they have a hard time gaging time and controlling their effort levels.