is there a way to speed up reflexes?

[Dirk Howat]

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Reflexs are in your mind. Therefore, you need to understand fighting. Watch a shitload of fights, what fighters throw, their combos.

Reflexs are also enhanced by drills. Boxing drills. Your partner throws a jab, and you block it, duck, bob. Not knowing when he is going to throw it is part of the drill. Your job is to defend it, by eluding it and countering it.

So practically, get the fundamentals down and do alot of sparring. You have to get to the point where everything is natural, easy and you can read his mind.



Also work on your flexibility. Speed is relevent towards reflexes, so you do not want any tension impeded you from going from point A to point B.





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[ghettostudmuffin]

So Bam, you are saying you have a 5th degree in bujinkan ninjutsu?

So Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi deliverd the blow huh? They use a wooden sword I believe although the first few actually did it with a real sword.

The way you said it's all about awareness skills and timing is incorrect. He will make you do it again if he thinks you're trying to hear it or feel. When you dodge it it is supposed to just happen with no particular effort from yourself. That's why you're supposed to relax and clear your mind when in seiza. At least this is what I have read. The bujin are supposed to protect you if they feel you are worthy.

Who is the top ranked guy outside of Japan nowadays? Is it Bud Malmstrom in ATL, georgia or Doron Navon in Europe?

I've got practically every legitimate book on ninjutsu ever written and I would love to train with a great instructor on the west coast, but have no clue who is around. I would honestly like to make it a permanent part of my life just like lifitng weights is. I've been collecting them since I was 9 years old lol.

How is Dr. MAsaaki doing. He's getting really old now, although I hear he is spiritually as powerful as ever.

 

[Bam]

So Bam, you are saying you have a 5th degree in bujinkan ninjutsu?

So Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi deliverd the blow huh? They use a wooden sword I believe although the first few actually did it with a real sword.

The way you said it's all about awareness skills and timing is incorrect. He will make you do it again if he thinks you're trying to hear it or feel. When you dodge it it is supposed to just happen with no particular effort from yourself. That's why you're supposed to relax and clear your mind when in seiza. At least this is what I have read. The bujin are supposed to protect you if they feel you are worthy.

Who is the top ranked guy outside of Japan nowadays? Is it Bud Malmstrom in ATL, georgia or Doron Navon in Europe?

I've got practically every legitimate book on ninjutsu ever written and I would love to train with a great instructor on the west coast, but have no clue who is around. I would honestly like to make it a permanent part of my life just like lifitng weights is. I've been collecting them since I was 9 years old lol.

How is Dr. MAsaaki doing. He's getting really old now, although I hear he is spiritually as powerful as ever.

I fear I have been misquoted.
I never stated I took that test. I described the test as an example of my point in earlier posts.
I also never spoke of "Hearing" the strike. You mentioned that "When you dodge it it is supposed to just happen with no particular effort from yourself That's why you're supposed to relax and clear your mind when in seiza" . Clearing your mind allows you to use the unseen connection that exist between all things to become aware of the attack before it happens. This is whai I have been talking about in these posts. The awareness skills are the key to doing this without using the standard senses of taste, touch, hearing etc. We all have the ability to sense the energy of the attack before it reaches us if we train ourselves to do this. There are some very specific training methods to acheive this.


Yes the test is done with a Boken. Soke Massaki as far as I know is fine. I have not seen him personally since the Tai Kai in Tuscon, Az. in 1995. I am not sure who holds the "TOP" ranking but Master Richard Van Donk is one of the top ranking masters outside of Japan.

You sound like you are truly interested in Ninjutsu so I would sugest you check out Master Van Donk's Web Site: http://www.ninjutsu.com/home.shtml he has much information and links to a variety of dojos you can check out. I have met several of the instructors on the west coast at Master Van Donk's training camps and they all are great people as well as great martial artists!

 

[Sy Ali]

I'm resurrecting an old thread, I know.. but it appears that nobody really said what I will.

Reflexes are a complex topic, and in my opinion are a combination of things..

Nature -- Being born with certain traits - this is arguable.

This could even include different physical things like body type, joints, ligaments and such.

Nuture -- Training.

Quality training for good flexibility. This is a difficult topic, because there are many ways. Let's just say that someone who focuses very heavily on strength training won't have the same speed of motion as someone who carefully balances. Think of boxers who skip rope or do fast training with a light punching bag.

Experience. Earlier on in this thread, the idea of an experienced fighter reading their opponent was mentioned. A good fighter can read many subtleties beyond the obvious telegraphing of movement. Maybe they are positioning themselves to make themselves look vulnerable to a certain kind of attack, and they are prepared for that kind of attack and so they appear faster than usual.

Think of how good some of those "old masters" are. They're not big and strong and agile like a young student with "natural talent", but they're amazingly well-timed. This shows how good training can be more important than one's physical gifts. Obviously there's room for discussion there.. maybe old masters are a rare exception. Still, I'd like to think that as I age my experience will offset the difficulties in aging.

Training to move in accustomed patterns has also been a quick and dirty way to get fast quickly. e.g. kata or repetition. I still see real ability as being something more than that though.

Relaxation / Calmness / Confidence. Or mindset, or whatever you wish to call it. With experience and good training would eventually come a certain fluid mindset. Being nervous is obviously going to lock you up, so the other side of the coin is having a kind of confidence or relaxedness.

---

So to answer the original question of "is there a way to speed up reflexes?".. yes of course.

Effortful training to eliminate fear and promote confidence. Repetition to a point but train towards a relaxedness and fluidity of action. Work on physicality to improve flexibility and appropriate muscle mass and such. Throw in some cardio.. that sort of thing.

I'd also say things like training/sparring with as many different people as possible, to help eliminate the various fears of working with the unknown.

 

[Sy Ali]

Eventually, you want to do _this_. =)

 

[casualbb]

Improving reflexes eh...

From a purely physical perspective, you have to perceive a strike and send a signal to initiate the appropriate movements to evade or block it. The absolute speed depends in a large part on how fast the nervous system can transfer action potential. But I imagine that except for a few rare cases the speed of the nervous system falls within some small range.

So how do some guys react so well? They become so good that they don't have to think about it. A skill practiced goes from conscious incompetence -> conscious competence -> unconscious competence. Basically being so skilled that things become automatic. Mostly when people throw a punch or do something, SOMETHING gives them away. The expertise to recognize it combined with an automatically recalled and flawlessly executed defense produces these feats of reflex.

 

[Judo Tom]

strategy and skill will decrease your reaction time as well

when you are very skilled you will recognize what someone will most likely do because you have seen it before and will see it coming..

strategy can allow you to set someone up for something so you know how he will react before he does..

just trying to add something

 

[Kane Fan]

ok, a kick boxer from the iranian national team was working out at my gym. we started conversation and he told me his profession and what not... he was large , but not bulky- very fit. as the conversation progressed, i asked him to show me a few moves - jsut cuz i was curious, he tells me to punch him in the face as hard as i can. i ask him if he was sure, and he says yeah, so i punched him as hard and fast as i could: complete miss. he says go again, miss, miss miss... none of my punches hit him, he kept dodging left and right. this guy was one FAST mofo, tell me how do martial artists get so damn quick? i also see on UFC, gracie- untouchable, and cro-cop, also even, boxers- unfriggin touchable. im about to start brazillian jiu jitsu in about 1 week, and i was just wondering how these martial artists, do it.

I can practically promise he was not as fast as you think
you asked him to show you some moves and you say martialartist seem fast, I assume that means you are not into any real fighting styles
someone slower then you, who watches your body for signs can tell what you are about to do, and it is like Jedi (I dunno if you watch Star Wars movies or anything but Jedi are very fast, or at least they seem to be, actually they are minorly psychic and know the attack is coming so they start to move a bit before you even throw the attack thus they appear very fast when really they are only a bit quicker then you or even slower)
someone can be slower then you and still dodge your swings if you telegraph
and if you are untrained I'm pretty sure you did
I think it was a pretty shity of that guy to do to try to embarass you like that
did he actually show you anythingor just dodge around to try to make you look bad?
maybe when you asked him to show you some moves he thought you were calling him out I don't know
but you can use dodgeing to your advantage
if you can predict where the other guy is going to dodge you can throw a jab he'll dodge and catch him with a hook
and with him ducking into it you can land a harder punch
I don't really know what kind of dodge practice you will get in BJJ tho
might be good might not I'm not sure
but I hope that helped

 

[Kane Fan]

I don’t know what your background is so no offence but your inability to hit him might well be that you are telegraphing your punches and don't even realize it. If that is the case and the person who your punching knows how to read your “tell” you will never connect. A single straight punch delivered to someone who is expecting it and knows your target with no fake leading is about a zero percent deal. Trust me I know what I’m talking about. I think any of the other fighters on this board will back me up on this. As for increasing your reflexes I would say that you can’t however, I think building muscle and cardio endurance along with training in the arts and learning to set up your opponent with a good fake will increase your connect percentage.

In short you really didn’t have much of a chance of hitting him. Hope this helps.

I agree with most of what you said especially the good fake thing increaseing hit %
but I think you can increase handspeed
or reaction
handspeed would be easier
andyou can fake handspeed by having combinations and faking like you said
but I think overall handspeed can be improved
I dont know that BJJ will help a lot with that because it's a grappling style but a standup type class, like boxing would probubly help

 

[Kane Fan]

A simple single or double leg takedown will supercede that law of physics anytime if properly executed. Now tell me, am I wrong?

The person on defense is usually the loser when 2 trained fighters go at it because if you aren't attacking you're generally evading and blocking his energy and are vulnerable to dammage. Now alot of guys say well I will use his motion to throw him, or wait for him to make a mistake or this or that, but in real life that rarely happens, and while you're on the defensive you're getting your ass pummeled to a certain extent.

It's always better to make the first move. Especially if you can misdirect their attention and get a blind shot in first. Once you move you gotta go at it with everything you got.

Technique, experience, speed are all great, but alot of times a fight will end very quickly because one guy is bigger, stronger and more agressive than the other guy.

Technique and speed can win a fight almost instantly, but so can strength and power.

Better yet, how about just not fight, and if you have to fight just poke him in the eye and run. It works.

the exception to being on the offensive being better is a counterpuncher
cus his offense waits for your offense
but it is definatly a huge advantage to be the aggressor in grappling
at least I think so
unless you are drastically outclassed and wind up in a front choke or something
cusif you are the aggressor in grappling (ie if you do the takedown) you usually wind up in top possition and that's a huge advantage