How improving in fighting improves yourself

In 2017 I played my first traditional fighting game and by traditional I mean a fighting game that shares many concepts with early arcade games such as Street Fighter and Tekken. The game in question was Injustice 2, a DC superhero fighting game based on the Injustice comic book series.

I had to learn about frame data, different fighting game terminologies and combos. At present, I now play Street Fighter 6 and I have gotten a lot better at fighting games over the years. I know all the terminologies, I know how to read frame data and combos have gotten easier to do. But I also learned something I didn't expect to; that a lot of the lessons you learn in fighting games also apply to life.

I also want you to keep in mind that while most of us know these things already, it's different when you are faced with a challenge and you must practice what you believe. These are some of the lessons I have learned over the years.

Designed by Freekpik

You will lose….a lot. And that's okay.


When you first get started the wins are going to be rare. You will get discouraged and you will get upset. You may even develop an ego and think you shouldn’t be losing or that you are the better player and you deserved to win that match. But here’s the interesting thing, you are not a special snowflake. 

That person who beat you probably got their break after a 20-game losing streak or they may be approaching that wall soon and will feel just as stuck as you are. 

It is important to remember that you must keep pressing on and shift your perspective from winning to improving.

You need to start with the basics.


One big mistake beginners make is jumping straight into learning difficult combos thinking that is how they will win. That couldn’t be further from the truth. When I started Injustice 2 I quickly hopped on Youtube to learn the fanciest Flash combo I could find. I spent 1 hour practising a combo I never landed in an actual game because I lacked the fundamentals. 

In life, we tend to see the end result of people who spent 10,000 hours learning a skill without considering the baby steps needed to arrive there in the first place. Why do we do that? Probably because the beginner steps are boring and lack the reward we wish for.

My approach now is different from then. Now that I have the experience and know what I’m looking for, I start with learning the buttons and special moves of the character and memorising them. Next, I try to create simple combos on my own. I find that making something of your own is easier to remember than something you copied. Of course, these combos will be bad, but it’s something. 

After playing for a few hours and getting a good feel for the character, I go to YouTube and look for better, but still simple, combos and tactics.

Practice, practice, practice.


This is a big and also obvious one. You can’t get better at something if you don’t do it. You can mindlessly play the game for hours and brute force your way to getting good but I prefer a calculated approach which is to focus on something. 

Work on your anti-airs or your defence. Save a replay of your games and look back at it after a couple months. Are you still making the same mistakes? Have you added a new trick to your arsenal? Setting these metrics with deliberate practice will speed up the process of getting better.

Set small goals, they will add up.

This is a mindset shift. Instead of thinking about the end goal or focusing on just winning you need to set small goals. For example, test yourself to see how many anti-airs can you land or successful frame-traps and setups. Succeeding in these smaller goals will inevitably net you that win. Setting medium-sized goals with longer time frames as a metric for improvement is good too.

Basically, if you want to get better at something without being discouraged and giving up, try learning to do small things. Winning at these goals will motivate you to keep pushing on.

The key takeaway is that there’s a lot you can learn from playing a fighting game. It will test your grit, it will be a long process and you will lose a lot but I don’t think you will regret it if you do not give up.