Speed

[Fiendlover]

I need to work on my speed and I don't mean how fast I can run but how fast my moves are. My kicks, my punches, my reaction time, all of it. How do I become faster than I am? Is it the mere practice? Do I just need to train, train, train, and speed will come with it or what? Any drills and advice is much apprciated. I thank you in advance.

 

[terryl965]

Then what you want is quickness not speed, to get quickness you need to do small off the line drills.

 

[Steel Tiger]

Terry is right you need to make that small mental adjustment from speed to quickness.

Training is the key. You have to work on those drills and sets that develop quickness. Familiarity with what you are doing also helps, and that, too, is down to training. Work on the sort of drills that require you to rapidly respond to multiple targets through a 90, 180, 270, and 360 degree sweep. And don't forget high and low.

Muscular development can help too but it can also be a trap. Over development of muscles in pursuit of strength can be detrimental to quickness development.

 

[Fiendlover]

Thank you both. I see what you're saying.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Fiendlover,

We have localized it into the following ways:

a) Strength. Strength as in twitch and super twitch muscles. That comes from the right mix of weight training. Long term speed will have to do with stamina. And that will be increased with such activities as jogging (cardiovascular workouts to.)

b) Technique. Not only finding a more efficient way to do, say a backfist or a sidekick, but also combining moves to speed up the technique, say skipping forward while chambering a kick or firing a backfist (just like the strait lead punch.) Or one-timing,that is blocking and punching at the same instant.

c) Relaxing before the strike (the muscles not the mind!) If you are tense, you have to relax the muscles before they can tense up for the move you intend to perform. Might as well be relaxed until your mind decides what you are going to do.

d) Mental. Mental not only in burning in the technique so well it's a reflex but combining moves mentaly so instead of '1,2,3,4' it becomes just '1' in ones mind. I call this 'caned routines' in that the attack pattern becomes one technique instead of several serial techniques. Add visualization to this so one sees the complete technique without any break in the flow (as below.)

e) Visualization. Visualize the techniqe in your mind. Picture you performing it and what all is required for that technique (or combination of techniques.)

f) Timing. Timing each part of the technique so it is very smooth and appears be done in one fluid motion.

g) Lack of telegraphing. This is showing your opponent what you are going to do before you do it. Your technque needs to be practiced till there is no 'tell' to tip off what is going to happen. The technique should be spontanious.

Hope that helps.

Deaf

 

[Fiendlover]

Fiendlover,

We have localized it into the following ways:

a) Strength. Strength as in twitch and super twitch muscles. That comes from the right mix of weight training. Long term speed will have to do with stamina. And that will be increased with such activities as jogging (cardiovascular workouts to.)

b) Technique. Not only finding a more efficient way to do, say a backfist or a sidekick, but also combining moves to speed up the technique, say skipping forward while chambering a kick or firing a backfist (just like the strait lead punch.) Or one-timing,that is blocking and punching at the same instant.

c) Relaxing before the strike (the muscles not the mind!) If you are tense, you have to relax the muscles before they can tense up for the move you intend to perform. Might as well be relaxed until your mind decides what you are going to do.

d) Mental. Mental not only in burning in the technique so well it's a reflex but combining moves mentaly so instead of '1,2,3,4' it becomes just '1' in ones mind. I call this 'caned routines' in that the attack pattern becomes one technique instead of several serial techniques. Add visualization to this so one sees the complete technique without any break in the flow (as below.)

e) Visualization. Visualize the techniqe in your mind. Picture you performing it and what all is required for that technique (or combination of techniques.)

f) Timing. Timing each part of the technique so it is very smooth and appears be done in one fluid motion.

g) Lack of telegraphing. This is showing your opponent what you are going to do before you do it. Your technque needs to be practiced till there is no 'tell' to tip off what is going to happen. The technique should be spontanious.

Hope that helps.

Deaf

thank you so much, Deaf. This is much appreciated.

 

[exile]

Another thing to take into account, F., is hand/eye coordination and reflex development. Contrary to much folklore, reflexes can be trained for improvement, just as balance can be, even though both are expressions of neuroanatomical facts about yourself that you can't change. The thing is, you can change performance.

If you think about what quickness consists of, it become pretty clear that quickness depends to a large extent on your being completely sure as you carry out an action that it's going to have the effect you want. The more certainty you have based on your performance skill that your motion will deliver an effect to exactly where you intended it to go, the less you have to think about what you're doing and the more rapid and fluid—the quicker—you'll be. So working on reducing your reaction time feeds directly into training for increased quickness. Loren Christensen has a whole book on how to achieve this goal, titled Speed Training, and there a lot of resources on the web as well.

 

[morph4me]

There's another aspect of quickness that comes with practice and experience, and that's awareness. Interpreting correctly and early what your opponent is doing so you can begin your defense or counter before he can land his attack. Action instead of reaction, getting there first makes you seem faster than you actually are.

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

While I am old, yet young in the arts, what quickness I've developed so far has come from repetition and muscle memory.

 

[MahaKaal]

There are 3 types of speed that I train for.

Speed of Body - To move in various directions with agility, being able to change into multiple directions smoothly. This is trained for by hours of repitition to build muscle memory and physical excercises which build dynamic strength in the buttocks, thighs, calfs and ankles.

Speed of Mind - To anticipate and predict the opponents attack, calculating counters and attacks adjusting to the scenario. This I do through thinking of mental fight scenarios, and thinking of counters and counter-counters to each attack. Breaking down the way to manipulate energy and momentum, where it would be best to break the structure of the opponent and how to unroot them. If you can predict into the future, there is less reaction which is required on your behalf as you will see the attack coming.

Speed of Pounce - To engage the opponent with agility, removing the "transmitted" factor and cover the distance between the opponent and yourself in the shortest possible time, how to adjust to the opponent stepping back and creating distance, and also being able to disengage at will. This is practised again through repitition of engaging the opponent, practising the short pounces to cover distances.

The key to speed is having the agility to be able to adjust constantly, a punch can be quick, but if its transmitted it can be easily parried, if you havnt got the agility to counter the parry or allow your punch to continue traveling and absorb the effect of the parry you will be caught out. Sometimes its best to slow everything down and control the tempo, and only strike in times when you know your attack will land. Throwing fast punches which are missing the opponent will quickly tire you out.

Rather then focus on being able to punch fast or kick fast, focus on moving the body, the feet are the key to your root. Speed of body will always beat speed of punch and speed of kick.

 

[Xue Sheng]

While I am old, yet young in the arts, what quickness I've developed so far has come from repetition and muscle memory.

Repetition is the key IMO

Fiendlover

One of my Sifu’s was rather disgusted with my kicks a while back, to slow, not enough power and by comparison to his they were and to be honest still are, but I have not been as diligent as I should be of late.

He said you need to throw at least 300 kicks per day pre side and 500 would be better. Same with strikes do an awful lot of them (300 to 500 per day - and this is only the beginning) and speed, quickness and power will come

 

[punisher73]

As we always say in our firearms training "smooth is fast". As others have pointed out there are different "types" of speed.

If you look at the cognitive cycle and what you have to do in martial arts, each part is a component of "speed".

1) Perception/Evaluate: If you don't see the stimuli and understand it's significance, you won't be able to respond
2) Formulate a strategy: If you don't have a program to run for a response, you aren't going to be able to repsond quickly.
3) Inititiate/Execute: This is the component alot of people talk about when they talk about speed, how "fast" the physical movement is.

If you "try" to be fast you are going to tense muscles that don't need to be tight and you will slow your movement down. The more reps you do, the faster you will become because the neuromusclular connection for the movement will start to become hardwired (process is called myelination).

You need to work on all three of these areas. This is why "experts" seem to know what you are doing before you do it. They pick up on those small physical cues and because it is so hardwired it becomes an unconscious thought and they go from step 1 to step 3 almost instantly.

There are drills that you can do, as others have recommended, but I think to be truly fast, you have to first believe that you are fast and then train those three steps in ALL your techniques.

 

[Fiendlover]

Thank you all for giving these very helpful tips and information. I will practice these.