Reaction

Reaction time is a vital attribute for combat and adventure athletes

It's an important attribute for the everyman

There's several elements that make up your reaction time, possibly the most important of which is familiarity with the action.

This familiarity is case specific, an athlete with great reactions in one environment may not be as quick in another.

Then there's the physical.

Stronger muscles can contract faster, therefore movement is faster.

A well coordinated person will move faster and more accurately than a less athletically gifted individual

But one element that maybe doesn't get enough credit is our vision.

If we divide our vision into two arbitrary states, panoramic and focused.

Panoramic, or peripheral vision is like you'd have watching the waves at the beach.

Focused is when you're looking at detail, maybe intently watching the surfer on those waves.

Panoramic is relaxed, focused has more intent.

So you'd be forgiven for thinking that the focussed gaze brings the fastest reactions, but you'd be wrong.

Panoramic gaze is much, much quicker.

You see movement, pattern changes, not detail. Less details, less brain processing time.

So when you're looking to be quick, look to remain relaxed in body, breath, thought and vision.

And you'll be catching every ball, slipping every punch and basically being the baddest version of yourself

Regards

Dave Hedges