How to move faster?

[EdsainBolt]

Hi there, I'm interested in learning what strategies are most effective for getting things to move faster. I'm actually more of a musician than a martial artist, though both interest me very much. I've just spent much more time with music for no particular reason. I find many similarities between the two. They both require intense mental focus, years of practice, style is important, and they both involve moving the body specific ways, to name a few.

I think this is something a martial artist might know more about, which is why I came here. The way I see it, there are two different aspects to moving faster, there is moving your body faster, and doing a specific thing faster. What I'm talking about when it comes to the latter would be something such as learning a musical phrase, one must first learn the musical phrase mentally, and then decide the most fluid economical movements to use in order to achieve that phrase, then they must practice slowly with intense focus and ensure that they perform it with perfect accuracy. Eventually this perfection becomes ingrained in one's memory and they are able to play the phrase perfectly as fast as their body will let them. This to me is similar to when a martial artist is learning a new move, or a new combination of attacks. They make sure they know what they need to do, and then practice the motions with great focus until they can perform the attack at full speed with ease. This type of moving faster is not what I'm focused on, though I'm not saying it's not interconnected with the other type.

What I'm interested in what methods are used to make the human body move faster, as in what can be done to increase the speed of muscles. This interests me because I have much more difficulty increasing the top potential speed of my playing than I do bringing what I play up to that speed. Basically, even after I've learned how to play something absolutely perfectly, I tend to plateau at a certain tempo, and that plateau is being caused by my picking. My fretting is much faster. I can move through a phrase with my fingers almost twice as fast as I'm able to move through it while picking.

So this is where I think someone here might be able to help me. I'd like to increase the speed at which I'm able to move my wrist side to side. I understand that there are many, many things one can do to speed up their movements - plyometrics, isometrics, endurance training, speed training, concentric weight lifting, eccentric weight lifting, as well as certain ways of moving. Now, I've been able to increase the speed of my ankles by doing something pretty simple (this relates to drumming btw). I simply lift up my foot so that my heel is on the ground and my toes are in the air, I relax the muscles on the front of my shin, which are being used to keep my toes in the air, and immediately tense my calf muscles and snap my foot down to the ground. And then I'll do the reverse and slap my heel down to the ground. Or I might not even use the ground. I'll lay on my stomach with feet in the air and flex my ankles back and forth. The key is to start completely relaxed in one position, and then with an immediate strong effort move to the next motion and relax again. After doing this sporadically for a few months I've noticed that the speed of my feet have increased noticeably. When I do this, I experience a sort of jerking feeling in my body. I'm snapping quickly from one position to the other. In order to get this feeling though, I think the body must become used to doing this motion in the first place, so before doing this, one must go through the motion slowly for a while in order to get the motion in their memory, because even when the motion involves only one joint, the body must still learn how to do it. Usually I will only focus on one direction, as in, I will snap my foot down, and then slowly bring it back up, and repeat.

Now I'm doing the same thing with my wrists, and I'm just wondering if there are any more effective methods for improving speed. This motion is a bit less natural feeling and is used much less, so I think I'm starting from a lower point. But I've already noticed a small improvement in speed and hope it will continue, but I'd like to hear from people who would most likely be more knowledgeable on the topic.. So if anyone can add anything to what I've said please do!

[bushido_man96]

With Martial Arts, it starts with identifying the movement you want to do faster, then focusing on it, breaking it down, and doing specific training to speed up the movement. I'll use a side kick as an example.

There are 4 basic parts to this kick; chamber, extension, re-chamber, and return to the floor. Identifying these 4 sections, now I can focus on the first one, the chamber. I'll work on getting the knee up, and the leg into kicking position. Basically, now, I can focus on getting to this position until I feel comfortable with it, then move onto the next part, the kick. And so on. That would be the first stage of training. Once I feel comfortable with the kick, I can do different kicking drills to work the whole technique, or things like plyometrics or knee burst to work specific parts.

That's it, in a nutshell. Identify the movement, focus on it, and then work it over and over. Building strength and flexibility along the way are also necessary to supplement the training.

I hope that helps some. Let us know if you have other questions.

[tallgeese]

bushido man makes great points, so I won't rehash. Needless to say, I think it's good advice.

I'd make a quick point that's related but goes to mindset more than methodology. There's a saying I heard at a school somewhere:

"Slow is smooth, smooth is fast"

Slow down, make your motions perfect. This makes them smooth. When they start getting smooth, they'll speed up naturally.

[bushido_man96]

Yes, good point, tg. An Aikidoka I trained with told me the same thing, and it is something that I noticed I really had to focus on more in Aikido then I have in TKD; being smooth. Good point.

[kansascityshuffle]

Slow and steady, breaking it down, making it muscle memory where you don't really have to think when you do a technique any more.

A common mistake I see with many Men is, and I've been guilty of it too, is we try to add too much power to techniques right away. It wasn't until I fell into Muay Thai, while focusing on less techniques and making them become muscle memory that I started to do the same with my karate techniques. Once you get the technique down you can start working on adding more speed and power.

Due to breaking a pelvis in a parachute accident a few years back I can't use the same fast use of angles I used to use, and doing fast combinations so I adapted to focusing more on power. I'll take 2-3 hits to land one big hit to end a fight. Also, a tactic that many Russians and Bulgarians are using win world tournaments in Kyokushin and Daido Juku.

Body mechanics, being more efficient, less is more.

[Dobbersky]

DITTO

With everyone who has responded, do every technique slowly and with perfection. to build speed a heavy bag is excellent. When I was fighting I was hitting the bag 1000 times a day plus 10 miles run plus weights session every second day

Try Pyramid kicks/punches/etc

have a partner hold a thai pad then them shout 1 upto 10 then back down again. 1 side then the other. the point is to get the strikes of a quick as you get them. excellent for stamina too

[Vagabond]

This is a tip I have been given, but have not put into practice. After you have done everything else mentioned before I have been told to start over and add a limited amount of weight (2-5lbs) on the ankles or wrist. In theory this works out in my head, but there is a great risk of injury. Key things to remember are not hyperextending the joints, starting completely over with the breakdown process (i.e. four parts of the side kick), and to build the weight slowly.

Again this is just a tip, but I have no practical experience in it.

[bushido_man96]

I believe Chuck Norris had a drill he called the Redline drill. He did it with forms, but it could be done with techniques.

Basically, he did a form 12 times, I think. First 3 were at normal speed. Next, you did the form 3 times, but at a much slower speed, even tensing the muscles for resistance when moving them through the motions. Really concentrate on technique, stance, etc. Next, you do the form 3 times, just blitzing them out as fast as you can. Technique isn't focused on as much; max speed is. Once done there, you do the form again, at normal pace, oh let's say, 3 times. The idea is that the slow technique is worked to refine it, then you blitz to add to your top end. The next time you do the form at a normal pace, your techniques should be a bit faster, but still with good technique.

I've never done it, but it sounded like something worth trying.