increasing speed,

[Headhunter]

Unfortunately, the only real solution is to de-age 30 years or so. With luck, when speed degrades timing and experience will compensate, but only so much.

Fighting is a young man's game.

Of course he's not as fast he was 30 years ago that doesn't mean he should just roll over and did and stop bothering to train. You train to be the best you can be not what you were and I know plenty of older guys who could take out a lot of younger guys

 

[jobo]

There's a few exercises, and fitness regimens, that can increase speed, yes, that's right, actually increase speed.

Let's start with hand/arm speed. Here's one of them -

Start a training regimen of clap push ups. Not clapping in front, clapping behind your back. Sometimes when we start someone on this, we'll have them put a pillow under their face. And encourage them to turn their face if they aren't going to complete the push up - and end up face planting. If you can't complete one, there's an easy way to build up to that.

Start with a push up. Now, do the push up with a blast and have your hands come up off the floor. Do it again and clap in front, again, blasting off the floor with the hands. You'll see how much time you have, which is more than plenty. Then - do the push up and clap the side of your thighs and catch yourself. To make it easier, start on your knuckles and land on your palms. This will give you and extra beat, as you're starting higher and landing lower.

After you've done the clap of the thighs, it's just a few more inches to clap behind your back. Once you get it, and again, it's a lot easier than it reads, work the hell out of it.

Think about how fast your hand moves when you accidentally touch a hot stove. That's how quick you can be with your hands right now, which is pretty quick when given the right stimulus. You can even get that natural reaction slightly quicker with a good regimen of speed drills.

Side note - I hadn't actually done a clap-behind in a few years. So I just tried a few. Despite a shoulder that I tweaked yesterday, it was fine, and I'm an old man. Give them a try. Work the hell out of them. You should see a difference in speed in just a few months.

There's several other exercises that compliment this, we'll get to them later if you're interested. And one of them is with weights. And it's a corker.

thanks il give that a go, I'm not a natural at push ups, I'm heavy with long arms and legs which gives me a mechanical disadvantage when compared to lighter shorter people, I can lauch my self a short way, so can probably work up to a front,clap. A back clap will I'm sure result in a broken nose.

 

[jobo]

Unfortunately, the only real solution is to de-age 30 years or so. With luck, when speed degrades timing and experience will compensate, but only so much.

Fighting is a young man's game.

you are of course correct, but the journey im on is to fight the ageing process and to what extent I can reverse it by making improvements rather than just giving in to gradual decline. I all most certainly won't be able to bridge the gap to the younger guy, hw is unnaturally fast ,but I can close it by the application of hard work and dedication.

he did pay me the compliment of saying he really really wouldnt like to face me in a street fight, based on the fact that when I did manage to hit him he fell over. So it hitting more often against a very fast and mobile opponent that is my issue, I've a great deal of power

 

[jobo]

- Train 1 step 3 punches.
- Jump up in the air, throw 3 punches before land back down.

I'm going to put some jumping into my work out, might as well do some punching whilst I'm up there, cheers

 

[Martial D]

you are of course correct, but the journey im on is to fight the ageing process and to what extent I can reverse it by making improvements rather than just giving in to gradual decline. I all most certainly won't be able to bridge the gap to the younger guy, hw is unnaturally fast ,but I can close it by the application of hard work and dedication.

he did pay me the compliment of saying he really really wouldnt like to face me in a street fight, based on the fact that when I did manage to hit him he fell over. So it hitting more often against a very fast and mobile opponent that is my issue, I've a great deal of power

Ya, power is the last thing to go right?

I'm actually right there with you. I've always had really good hand speed, but as the years go by(I'm 40 now) I find myself having to compensate with trickery against some of these 20 something's.

 

[jobo]

Ya, power is the last thing to go right?

I'm actually right there with you. I've always had really good hand speed, but as the years go by(I'm 40 now) I find myself having to compensate with trickery against some of these 20 something's.

again true, decline from your physical peak is inevitable, the question im asking myself through my training is how much of a decline is inevitable and how do you reverse the decline that has already occurred to be at the max that your age and genetic allows.

you seem to be accepting of it rather than putting effort into fighting it.
I can at my advanced age hold my own against a lot of twenty year olds in the fitness stakes. They get really peved when I can do more pull ups than they can. My goal is physical improvement year on year, until that becomes an impossibility, then Il maintain it for as long as is possible. My speed and reactions can be improved if I put enough effort in to do so. And that the question im asking, how best to do that

 

[Gerry Seymour]

again true, decline from your physical peak is inevitable, the question im asking myself through my training is how much of a decline is inevitable and how do you reverse the decline that has already occurred to be at the max that your age and genetic allows.

you seem to be accepting of it rather than putting effort into fighting it.
I can at my advanced age hold my own against a lot of twenty year olds in the fitness stakes. They get really peved when I can do more pull ups than they can. My goal is physical improvement year on year, until that becomes an impossibility. My speed and reactions can be improved if I put enough effort in to do so.

I'd guess that most folks active in MA are already beating the statistics on aging. For me, even though my joints have decided that mid-40's is a good time to prepare for mid-60's, I'm still more active and able than almost anyone around me at my age. Those who match or exceed my level are all fitness instructors or enthusiasts of some other physical activity that keeps them active. In general, frequent physical activity of at least moderate intensity appears to be the way we beat those odds.

I look forward to hearing your progress in fighting back on the specific areas you mention. Some are areas I don't struggle with (my speed is still better than most, which is probably mostly genetic for me), but I'm fighting my own areas (like joints and strength).

 

[Danny T]

Explosive weight training. 3-5 sets of 5-6 reps will develop your type 2 muscle fibers

 

[jobo]

Explosive weight training. 3-5 sets of 5-6 reps will develop your type 2 muscle fibers

that's more or less how I do train fitness, to avoid confusion, I'm not ponderously slow, in fact I thought I was reasonably quick till I saw this guy, it wasn't just the speed of a single punch that got me I could cope with that, it was the speed of his transition to the follow up punch and then the kick after that. Id been hit three times in less than a second, that's raised the bar of my expectations and I want a bit of that, not to fight him to for general development


I used to train my speed by playing slaps with my mams cat, it was fast that moggy

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I used to train my speed by playing slaps with my mams cat, it was fast that moggy

Playful young dogs have long been part of my speed training. The ones who play-bite a little too hard are excellent motivators.

 

[drop bear]

again true, decline from your physical peak is inevitable, the question im asking myself through my training is how much of a decline is inevitable and how do you reverse the decline that has already occurred to be at the max that your age and genetic allows.

you seem to be accepting of it rather than putting effort into fighting it.
I can at my advanced age hold my own against a lot of twenty year olds in the fitness stakes. They get really peved when I can do more pull ups than they can. My goal is physical improvement year on year, until that becomes an impossibility, then Il maintain it for as long as is possible. My speed and reactions can be improved if I put enough effort in to do so. And that the question im asking, how best to do that

You put yourself in a position that it takes him longer to hit you than for you to hit him.

Otherwise hand speed isn't the trick. Movement speed is. Jump squat movement drills are important.

 

[Brian King]

A slightly different perspective from a thought exploration a few years ago.
Speed compensates poor timing.
So great timing compensates poor speed.

Regards
Brian King

 

[jobo]

You put yourself in a position that it takes him longer to hit you than for you to hit him.

Otherwise hand speed isn't the trick. Movement speed is. Jump squat movement drills are important.

yes I'm leaning that way, I'm thinking of having a mobility day in my training schedule, its what to put in there?

 

[jobo]

A slightly different perspective from a thought exploration a few years ago.
Speed compensates poor timing.
So great timing compensates poor speed.

Regards
Brian King

but I'm average at both

 

[drop bear]

yes I'm leaning that way, I'm thinking of having a mobility day in my training schedule, its what to put in there?

We do lots of obvious stuff. Like launching backwards and forwards in stance. Ladder work. Box jumps and sprawls.

There is some other fun stuff like hopping tuck jumps. And animal walks.

But there is also the super basic methods like actually moving fast and moving on pads or the bag. Which nobody does cos its hard.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

We do lots of obvious stuff. Like launching backwards and forwards in stance. Ladder work. Box jumps and sprawls.

There is some other fun stuff like hopping tuck jumps. And animal walks.

But there is also the super basic methods like actually moving fast and moving on pads or the bag. Which nobody does cos its hard.

Actually moving fast is ********. My legs tell me so anytime I do it for extended periods.

 

[Brian King]

but I'm average at both

Speed can be worked on and should be...but as you age the returns diminish. Timing can be worked on and should be...and as you age it can get better and better. Timing has sustainability as you age and as you deal with injuries and disabilities that often come with aging.

Regards
Brian King

 

[jobo]

how about this as a speed mobility work out?

 

[Danny T]

how about this as a speed mobility work out?

Looks more like his warm up not his actual workout

 

[DaveB]

For speed, just don't stop moving: continuous unbroken techniques, no need for power.
Also wear leg and wrist weights through your day.
You can combine the two practices as well.

For reactions get a boxer's speed ball.
Also, with a partner: stand back to the wall, feet level shoulder width apart guard up.
Partner slaps your cheek or your lower ribs.
You block.
He starts circular and gets faster moving to short quick taps with his hands launching straight at target rather than taking a circular path.
Later he can add a straight punch to the stomach to the mix.

Best advice of all is get Speedy McYoungster to be your traoning partner for drills like this.