Hints for fighting with poor mental reaction speed

[Black Cat]

I have been having a serious problem with my mental reflexes being vastly inferior to most other fighters on the field. Even newer fighters who haven't been able to build muscle memory yet are mentally faster than me. I can swing a sword quickly, but reacting to an opponent's movements in time to put up any kind of real fight has proven impossible for me so far. If I use a weapon longer than 6 feet and keep a good distance from my opponent, I can stay in the fight for a lot longer, but even this isn't a true solution to my problem.

This problem is mostly mental and has little to do with my physical fitness level. This problem has severely affected my ability to learn any fighting techniques on the field and I am finding it very frustrating.

Does anyone know how to improve their mental reflexes and make a slow brain work faster? Or is this an ability someone has to already have and something that cannot be improved on?

[Peanut of Loderia]

Well, basic reflex training may help, since reflex actions rarely go all the way to the brain.

The only other thing I could think of is those games for Gameboys that are supposed to improve mental capacity but I dont know if they work.

[Arrakis]

Push yourself, continually. Go buy a bunch of FPS's and get good at those, go play other sports, and just watch other people fight. Figure out (or even, gasp, ask a good fighter!) how a good fighter can tell what an opponent is about to do. A lot of the game isn't mental speed, so much, as it is figuring people out before you would have to be mentally "fast".

That, and get a big honkin' strap shield and go spar/train with a vet till you learn defense. Then, most of the time, if things get out of hand, just rock back and block like a LEGO until you can regain control of the situation.

[Vitus]

Are you male or female?

[Black Cat]

Are you male or female?

Male

[Brennon EH]

It's common, and highly correctable. If you're like most people your reflexes are fine, but just not trained for the kind of thing you're doing.

I highly recommend Dance Dance Revolution.

No, seriously.

Stop laughing.

It will work on your footwork, hand, and eye coordination simultaneously. Turn it up as fast as you can go, and just push yourself.

Simon is another excellent reflex builder. It helps you mentally recognize and respond to patterns.

Finally, Block-Strike is the best thing you can do. Not only does it build reflexes and response time, but it actually helps with shot selection and blocking as well. The only caveat to that is you want to make sure and work on footwork drills with Block-Strike, since it has a tendancy to make people stick in place.

This sort of issue is easily correctable if you put some dedication into it.

Good luck, and keep us posted on your progress.

[Soo Ma Tai]

What all of these guys have said is true. You need to build muscle memory for defense too. The best way to do this is to play defense for a while. Find someone in your realm who will work with you on the sideline. Try starting at a casual pace and work your way up to full speed. A lot of people have told me I have great defense skills, for me a great deal of that is knowing before you do where you plan to hit me. No, this is not Orcish magic or ESP of any kind, I just predict where you are going to try to hit, by knowing what I am going to leave open when I throw my shot.

So here's how it works...if we are both Sword and board...

1. I throw a shot to your left (shield) arm.
2. Commonly, you shield block and counter with a high cross to my right (weapon) arm.
3. Since I know you are going to go for the hole, I am already on my way to blocking your high cross, before you throw it.

This does not always work, but commonly, a fighter will attack what is not defended. So as long as you are continually covering what you just left open, you will block a great portion of attacks against you.

I will only be there the last 4 days of Chaos, but if you would like some pointers, I would be more than happy to work with you on it.

[varadin]

I highly recommend Dance Dance Revolution.

No, seriously.

Stop laughing.

agreed 100% I hated ddr for the longest time. im a big guy and i believe that video games should be sitting on your * and doing everything with your hands. I played DDR to score a chick and gained a lot of speed with just making quick reactions. Hell even a quick wrong reaction can be better than no reaction. Look into it.

Another thing to do is really watch people when they throw a shot. Notice the first hip movement and prepare for defense. It could be a feint it could be a shot be ready either way.

[deflagratio]

Here's something we did in my Fencing lessons back in the day. Basically your training partner throws various shots at you. The major thing is that the trainer heavily broadcasts each shot. he should position himself so you can tell easily where the shot will go. He should hold for about a second and then throw the shot. You block and counterattack. Keep doing with with both advancing and retreating footwork. The training partner should very slowly decrease the length of the pauses.
Remember that this is a training exercise not a game. The person throwing the shots should be doing it only so you will learn. This will help you get used to basic shots being thrown and the positions they will be thrown from.
No for some modifications to this drill. To begin with start off with a small selection of shots for the person to throw. About 2 or 3. Slowly work up to more and more shots. Also you can add disengages. Just transfer to another position and with a shorter pause throw the shot. This drill also makes a good partner warm up if you swap back and forth. It really helps to get you thinking about how to block. One last note is to remember to change your response up a bit. If you respond to one type of attack with the same counter attack everytime an observant opponent will use it against you.

[tvetree]

To get faster,train slower.


Really,Do very slow work with a fighter of the same or greater skill than you.Take time to stop look and see where you are open,look to see where He/she is open.Learn How to hit that target from where you are right then.If you get it while going slow when you speed up it will be there if you have to learn it at full speed you may never see the openings or learn how you became open.

[Sir Guts]

Get drunk, fuc*ed up or whatever u do at events and duel. React to their attacks and dont be aggressive, DRunken monkey and crouching chronic turtle are two of the most powerful styles out there. And rock that pimp hand. Slap a lil leather on those knuckles when u do.

[bo1]

guts, what the heck is wrong with you? don't listen to guts, he is kinda special, like corky special.

[Shred]

Cocaine.

[Ralimar]

If you live in Kentucky, you are not allowed to have a Stone Brewery avatar.

(Arrogant * rule.)

[MagnusofDregoth]

I have a few thoughts.

One is to get a good sense of how others will react to your moves. That is, you need to learn what the natural response is to each technique, and then incorporate your expectations into your plan of attack. This is the way that you will be able to take control of a fight--once you have a firm enough grip on the situation, you can throw a series of shots on offense without worrying about reacting defensively, because you will already have a defensive plan to go along with your offense.

But no opponent will fight exactly the same as the other. If things aren't going your way, just step back out of range and re-evaluate the situation. Try a different attack sequence, then step back. Keep control of the fight as long as you can, and when you don't have control, get out of the fight.

I'll post some more thoughts later.

[Satanaka]

Male?

ok- there are some good sugestions above as well as some not so good.
The slow practice at hoem- no oponent- like bag work.
I'd strongly suggest just some basic repetition... over and over and over and over and over and over and over...
The secret is to train the movements- till they become natural and react almost of their own.

Grand Master Hironori Otsuka, the founder of Wado Karate was once asked by one of the students that had been trainning for 3 year: "Sensei, why do we keep practicing the low block every night for the last 3 years- I think I have it down by now."
He was basicly told: "Interesting. I have been practicing the low block sine I was 5 years old. I have not "mastered" it yet."
The student got the message.

Does anyone know how to improve their mental reflexes and make a slow brain work faster? Or is this an ability someone has to already have and something that cannot be improved on?

Male

[Big King Jimmy]

I totally thought the master reply was gonna be the sucker punch the student and tell him to keep practicing.

[Titan G]

its a totally divergent tactic from what most of the other folks hav said and i totally agree with what was said by them but if you don't have any luck with there methods alot of what you can do it is make up for weakness in one area with great strength in another. i also have a really bad mental game as far as fighting and tactics go i attempt to make up for this by have much much faster hands than most of those i fight. it wont work on expierenced players but with about 90% of fighters out there if you out speed them then you win. i went about it by fighting with the heaviest longest blue i could find and a tower punch for my first year and a half/ two years fighting and then i have a piece of PVC filled with pennies at home that i would just casually swing while watching TV or something. now ive moved to a flail and a medium punch but i brought the speed those first few years fighting like that taught me so im much faster on my shield work and my shots than alot of folks.

[Arrakis]

its a totally divergent tactic from what most of the other folks hav said and i totally agree with what was said by them but if you don't have any luck with there methods alot of what you can do it is make up for weakness in one area with great strength in another.

I stopped reading your post before I finished this... construction. I hesitate to call it a sentence since the only trait it seems to share with what is commonly known as a sentence is that it ends with a period.

Take your time and write an intelligible post and people will be more inclined to read, comprehend, and reply to what you write.

[Titan G]

arrakis please understand this is an internet community and yes my grammer is not even close to anything someone with a basic understanding of english would have but since grammer was not the subject of the post please let the post stand alone on the merits of what is said not how it is said

[Davit]

In a nicer format than how arrakis said it:

In short yes it does matter how you say something because you can be misunderstood. I have my wife look at my posts all the time before I post something because she is better at grammar than I am. Ask someone to edit something if you are having a problem with grammar, it takes 2 seconds. It also shows that you are taking the time to be understood, and it will make people more likely to respond in a favorable manner.

[Dane]

I'm a grammar nazi.

Although Graavish's post was a structural atrocity, I understood him quite well. I, being an English major, understand the importance of structuring the written word, but it only needs to be criticized in discussion when it's not comprehendable.

[Arrakis]

I apologize for my shortness in my preceding post.

Carry on.

[Dabbanoth]

arrakis please understand this is an internet community and yes my grammer is not even close to anything someone with a basic understanding of english would have but since grammer was not the subject of the post please let the post stand alone on the merits of what is said not how it is said

Cant be Graavish.

[Titan G]

its me dag