Well thanks to this forum got started on dropping the pounds and building up some muscle and stamina. Overall I'm pretty happy with where that is going. But being in my 40's even though my strength is up and weight is down, I would like to try and increase my reaction time which seems to have reduced in the last while. This is from jumping clear of the bike in a fall, or other evasive manouvres, or just reaction in other sports. Does anyone have some thoughts on how you can increase reaction time in general? Or does it need to be specific?
Increasing Reaction Speed
I see lots of disciplines using something like this. I don't know if it works though.
Ladders?
"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem
"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk
go to chuck-e-cheese and play whack-a-mole, just avoid the pizza after. :)
improving reaction time involves a few different processes.
1. recognition of the event
2. deciding what to do about the event
3. acting on the event
recognition -[HTML_REMOVED] decision -[HTML_REMOVED] action
so while improving reaction time is somewhat dependent on the event, there are things that you can do to help improve your physical reaction. like sanrensho suggested, agility drills are a good place to start. other avenues to look at are plyometric drills and speed work. the drills will help you to turn your muscles on faster which helps you react faster.
i would suggest starting off with some simple bounding drills, some small depth jumps, and the dot drill.
bounding: http://running.competitor.com/2013/05/training/essential-drills-for-speed-and-efficiency_58730
plyometrics: http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html
dot drill: http://www.biggerfasterstronger.com/uploads/Dot%20Drill%20Info.pdf
We don't know what our limits are, so to start something with the idea of being limited actually ends up limiting us.
Ellen Langer
Lots of good info there. Will pick and choose some to add to my routine.
Call of Duty. Start off with just play against the CPU, then up your game to playing against other adults and finally, when you think you're ready, your kids.
Call of Duty. Start off with just play against the CPU, then up your game to playing against other adults and finally, when you think you're ready, your kids.
No jokes. Video games are a great way to hone eye-hand coordination.
I'd say you have two things to figure in: how fast your body can move in general, and how good your trigger/reaction time is.
Getting your body to move faster is something you can train. Super fast movements help - olympic lifting (especially the snatching with a bar or kettlebell), punching/kicking drills, etc.
But improving reaction time? No idea. Video games seem like as good a way as any.
As an extension to your crash survivability thought: consider how to stay loose, not panic, map your course to the ground (avoiding major obstacles or nasty landing spots) then remaining flexible when you do punch in. Or even better, having the agility to get free of your bike and hit the ground running. So much of this is split-second decision making.
There's nothing better than an Orangina after cheating death with Digger.
Ride technical trails faster. Follow faster riders. Challenge yourself using strava. Just turning on the app has me riding more aggressive. Pretty soon you can be a fast asshole too.
Fast reactions might be innate with some but I've had to work very hard - I've always ridden with a fast crew. I have always found that slowing down, reading the line and looking for flow ultimately ends up being faster. However the hanging it out and trying to keep up with someone faster can be quite exhilarating and likely helps sharpen your reactions.
Well thanks to this forum got started on dropping the pounds and building up some muscle and stamina. Overall I'm pretty happy with where that is going. But being in my 40's even though my strength is up and weight is down, I would like to try and increase my reaction time which seems to have reduced in the last while. .
I think the dropping weight and going lean is really smart as you slowly become an old fuck but I think you actualy need to move your whole body not just your thumbs on a game controler to get faster
could america be full of fat kids with superiour gaming skills who can actualy move really quick ?
trailrunning in rocks would be good … gives ya quick feet, a local ski coach claims tapdancing gives his 11 yr old son faster feet than the rest of the kids on the slalom course
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