Is there any way to improve my reflexes?

Question

I put this in martial arts because it's the closest I could find to an appropriate section.

Answer 1

Yes, but the training depends on exactly what you want to do. Weight lifting will NOT help much. Weight training improves the "slow twitch" muscles fibers responsible for sheer strength, and you want to improve the "fast twitch" muscle fibers. You want explosive speed. This is best done by performing the exact movement you want as fast as you can repeatedly. For example, if you want to make your punch faster (just an example) you would want to punch repeatedly. Start slow, and build up speed. Concentrate on eliminating ALL unnecessary movements (like moving your shoulder, your head, etc). Add LIGHT weights to the movement- light weights with many repetitions improve muscle tone without adding much muscle mass. Finally, use some sort of a cue- someone yelling "GO" is fine, but you can certainly use a bell, an alarm, the buzzer from an old game of "Operation"- whatever. This will help you develop the actual processing of information from your brain to whatever body part you are using. Remember, make your movements SUDDEN. Use imagery- imagine yourself being faster. Imagine how you would LOOK being faster. Your brain can make your body BELIEVE it is faster.
ABove all...practice, practice, practice. Repetition with a cue of some sort will do more than anything else.

Answer 2

you can train the specific movement you want so it becomes very smooth and responsive hence quicker and a more natural response

in terms of actually making neurological changes in the brain that will speed your reflexs up, there is only one specific training i know of-

run backwards as fast as you can

-(in martial arts this is often done with other aids, like someone hitting you or the quick and short term appearance of targets)


one thing we used to do was move at sprint speed across fields of granite boulders, however, this is likely to kill you if you fall, at the least you would break a leg or arm unless you have very fast reflexes

I havent trained for six months and there is no way in hell i would attempt to do that now

any drill where you are preserving your health and that also requires very sure-footedness or high levels of co-ordination is good

Answer 3

One way to improve your reflexes is to have lots of strecthing. Stretch until you can be nearly as good as a ballet dancer. (ok that's a crazy level but you should be able to strech really alot) This will make your muscles more flexible thus enhance your reflexes. But you also need to train, start by slow sparring and then gradually faster and faster.

Answer 4

Video games, especially first person shooters because you have to react quickly if you run into someone. This means that your brain will take less time sending a message to some part of your body to react, but I personally think you should do something similar to goalkeeping (catching, diving) to help you. After a few years of sparring in Taekwondo my reflexes are insane.

Answer 5

yeah i know a couple ways.
-have a trainer with you or a friend with tennis balls.
-your trainer should be behind you with a bucket of tennis balls and you are in front of him.
-have ur trainer throw them at a wall 2/3 at a time, while you catch and throw them away.
-make sure ur trainer is throwing them fast at the wall so that u can improve your reflexes.

Answer 6

i took up juggling to improve reflexes and hand speed. plus, it's kinda fun.

Answer 7

lots of different things. dropping and catching stuff from different hights. playing reflex games, etc. learn to juggle. juggling is good.

Answer 8

Try to catch a fly in mid air.

Answer 9

Shut you eyes. Have a partner move a target around & open your eyes & strike when he shouts.

Answer 10

well just strength traning [ working out] stuff along those lines and also martial arts is a good way also.