If you took all the pages in all the books about martial arts, street fighting and self-defense, you'd see a lot about physical conditioning -- building strength, speed, endurance and stamina.

Only problem is...physical conditioning will NOT save you in a real fight.

Why?

Because while physical conditioning is important, even more important is emotional conditioning.

In fact, if you had two fighters, both of equal size, speed and skill, with one being in peak physical condition and the other in peak emotional condition -- my money would be on the emotionally conditioned guy in all day long.

Reason why is because learning how to deal with all the emotions of a threat -- like fear, anxiety, frustration and anger -- and learning how to actually use them (like a weapon) in a fight is one of the most powerful fighting "skills" you can possess.

Think about it:

The best "techniques" in the world are worthless if you freak out during a fight. And all the physical training in the world is useless if you "freeze up" before the fight even begins.

Luckily, it's not hard to emotionally condition yourself.

For example, one simple way to do it is to watch fighting, wresting and "full contact" events -- and see how they control their emotions when things get hairy.

Another way is to talk to law enforcement professionals and military people, and ask them how they deal with stressful situations. Anything you get out of them will be pure gold to you if you ever find yourself in a violent situation, gripped by fear and anxiety.

Whatever the case, commit yourself to some serious study on emotional conditioning. When you learn how it works, and how to harness it in a fight, you will much of your fear about fighting evaporating.