What are your preferred methods of training speed?

[JowGaWolf3]

I swing a tennis ball from the ceiling and I use 2 exercises. One striking the tennis ball and the other hitting in between the gaps.
If I hit the ball too hard then it will bee too easy. So I have to learn to hit not with power but with speed.

Everything is a process. You can see it here. First I learn to hit soft but relaxed. The goal is not to hit slow but to hit with a gentle flow. If I hit the ball too hard then it swings too high which gives me more time to strike for each swing. The only way I reduce the time between swings is to make the ball swing very little. The other goal is knuckle placement. I want to make sure I hit the ball with my knuckle and not the back of the hand. This exercise also teaches me how to drive the poer into a certain direction.. Too much power the ball goes forward too mch. So what you are seeing in this video is me using down ward strikes. I'm hitting the ball at an angle.

You have to be fast and accurate to hit the ball, but you have to be faster to hit the gaps.. My back hand keeps the ball swinging.. You can see that I sometimes hit the ball too hard which gives me more time to swing.

In this video my clearing hand and my power strike hits the gaps while my back hand hits the ball.. I had another video that I though I had posted, but it shows me not only hitting through gaps but moving through gaps of swing objects.. I'll see if I can find that video for you.

 

[JowGaWolf3]

Hitting the gaps of a swinging tennis ball is like punching the opening in someone's defense.. You see an opening then you go for it.

 

[Alan0354]

I swing a tennis ball from the ceiling and I use 2 exercises. One striking the tennis ball and the other hitting in between the gaps.
If I hit the ball too hard then it will bee too easy. So I have to learn to hit not with power but with speed.

Everything is a process. You can see it here. First I learn to hit soft but relaxed. The goal is not to hit slow but to hit with a gentle flow. If I hit the ball too hard then it swings too high which gives me more time to strike for each swing. The only way I reduce the time between swings is to make the ball swing very little. The other goal is knuckle placement. I want to make sure I hit the ball with my knuckle and not the back of the hand. This exercise also teaches me how to drive the poer into a certain direction.. Too much power the ball goes forward too mch. So what you are seeing in this video is me using down ward strikes. I'm hitting the ball at an angle.

You have to be fast and accurate to hit the ball, but you have to be faster to hit the gaps.. My back hand keeps the ball swinging.. You can see that I sometimes hit the ball too hard which gives me more time to swing.

In this video my clearing hand and my power strike hits the gaps while my back hand hits the ball.. I had another video that I though I had posted, but it shows me not only hitting through gaps but moving through gaps of swing objects.. I'll see if I can find that video for you.

I did not practice with a ball like you, but I did follow your advice of do it slow, check my form, how my feet, waist and shoulder move by taking the time to move slowly when hitting the heavy bag. It's very helpful, helping me to remember how I got started, work out slowly and increase the speed and power as I got better.

I still start light and gentle on my first two minutes on heavy bag just to go through and check the motion. Same thing as cane fight, always do a slow session and check the movement.

I have you to thank for this. Never realize my forms got so sloppy through the years, this is a good way to get the form back.


This and the casting learning from Lamont Glass ( aka Blindside) here are the two important I learn joining the forum. Still working on the low stands moving around. Still need time to see the benefit. But it is helping my balance, knee pain and all that. Give me another two months and see. I am glad I join this forum.

 

[bill miller]

Hitting the gaps of a swinging tennis ball is like punching the opening in someone's defense.. You see an opening then you go for it.

That looks almost like a speed bag drill, except much difficult. I can see the precision required to do this on a small, moving object.

 

[Alan0354]

That looks almost like a speed bag drill, except much difficult. I can see the precision required to do this on a small, moving object.

Much better than speedbag. I practice speed bag for a while, I don't find it helpful. I was not bad in it, I had to use the smallest size(fastest) already, it's only about rhythm, nothing about speed or anything. You learn to time it right.

I took down the speed bad, deflate it, put two of the 2lbs weight balls in it and tape it to something looks like GowgaWolf's ball and hit with cane or punch. It doesn't bounce that well and no pattern of bouncing, just random movement so I can learn to focus in hitting and learn not to get thrown off balance if I miss.

 

[Kung Fu Wang116 146]

There's also two different skills between doing each technique fast and doing consecutive techniques fast.

Many years ago someone claimed that he could throw 6 punches within 1 second. That's 1/6 second per punch. I believe that should be the maximum speed for human being.

In one challenge fight, that guy got knock down within 8 seconds. His punching speed did not save him from losing that fight.

 

[Oily Dragon]

Hitting the gaps of a swinging tennis ball is like punching the opening in someone's defense.. You see an opening then you go for it.

Yes.

It's like rolling a golf ball underneath the soles of your feet.

Helps prevent planar fasciitis, improve foot strength, and lower blood pressure.

 

[Damien]

Smooth technique, potentially different technique, practicing being fast with your movements (it's been proven that thinking punch fast makes you faster and more powerful than thinking punch hard) etc. all help, but one of the biggest factors is your mental speed. How quickly can you detect an opportunity, process what to do and then act; essentially your reaction speed.

The swinging tennis ball is a classic drill which is great, but because you can see it swinging back and forth there's some degree of anticipation possible.

Another way to try this is to set up something above a punching bag, around your eye line which you can respond to when its status changes. This could be a randomly flashing light for example. I've used my phone strapped to a bag and just waited for the screen to switch off before. The downside of that is that you spend a lot of time standing around! Something which switches on and off with no interaction would be better. I'm sure a cheap LED light would do the trick.

One of the great advantages of this is that you can film yourself (a lot of phones have a slow mo video mode these days) and you can see what your reaction time is. Keep training trying to respond to a stimulus quickly and that time between stimulus and action will reduce. You should be able to see this in your videos; the time between the light changing and you initiating the punch (or kick etc.) should reduce.

I made a video a while back specifically about jab speed and used this technique to demonstrate the differences in speed of different techniques.

 

[JowGaWolf3]

Smooth technique, potentially different technique, practicing being fast with your movements (it's been proven that thinking punch fast makes you faster and more powerful than thinking punch hard) etc. all help, but one of the biggest factors is your mental speed. How quickly can you detect an opportunity, process what to do and then act; essentially your reaction speed.

The swinging tennis ball is a classic drill which is great, but because you can see it swinging back and forth there's some degree of anticipation possible.

Another way to try this is to set up something above a punching bag, around your eye line which you can respond to when its status changes. This could be a randomly flashing light for example. I've used my phone strapped to a bag and just waited for the screen to switch off before. The downside of that is that you spend a lot of time standing around! Something which switches on and off with no interaction would be better. I'm sure a cheap LED light would do the trick.

One of the great advantages of this is that you can film yourself (a lot of phones have a slow mo video mode these days) and you can see what your reaction time is. Keep training trying to respond to a stimulus quickly and that time between stimulus and action will reduce. You should be able to see this in your videos; the time between the light changing and you initiating the punch (or kick etc.) should reduce.

I made a video a while back specifically about jab speed and used this technique to demonstrate the differences in speed of different techniques.

Reaction Time is a good point and a difficult thing to train solo because it's stimulus specific. You may react to eyes to know what punches are coming while I react to the shifting of body weight, like that "Ready to punch shift" or maybe it's elbow movement from people who have chicken wing punches.

 

[Wing Woo Gar51 12]

I swing a tennis ball from the ceiling and I use 2 exercises. One striking the tennis ball and the other hitting in between the gaps.
If I hit the ball too hard then it will bee too easy. So I have to learn to hit not with power but with speed.

Everything is a process. You can see it here. First I learn to hit soft but relaxed. The goal is not to hit slow but to hit with a gentle flow. If I hit the ball too hard then it swings too high which gives me more time to strike for each swing. The only way I reduce the time between swings is to make the ball swing very little. The other goal is knuckle placement. I want to make sure I hit the ball with my knuckle and not the back of the hand. This exercise also teaches me how to drive the poer into a certain direction.. Too much power the ball goes forward too mch. So what you are seeing in this video is me using down ward strikes. I'm hitting the ball at an angle.

You have to be fast and accurate to hit the ball, but you have to be faster to hit the gaps.. My back hand keeps the ball swinging.. You can see that I sometimes hit the ball too hard which gives me more time to swing.

In this video my clearing hand and my power strike hits the gaps while my back hand hits the ball.. I had another video that I though I had posted, but it shows me not only hitting through gaps but moving through gaps of swing objects.. I'll see if I can find that video for you.

A long time ago I hung 8 small sandbags in my garage at different heights. I would get them swinging all in different directions and try to make contact with as many as possible as they come in.

 

[JowGaWolf3]

As crazy as it may sound, one method is simply to do the techniques faster. People tend to get on a rhythm in their training. As you increase your muscle memory and muscle definition for those techniques, your old rhythm is what holds you back. Sometimes it's just a matter of doing the technique with an emphasis on being faster.

Once you get to the point where it starts to get sloppy or you lose timing, then slow it back down and figure out that particular kink until you can get it back to speed.

This is my kung fu forms training. We try to do the form without falling apart (getting sloppy). Speed becomes counter productive when it causes sloppiness. It like racing an indy car down the street. It'll go fast but it doesn't help when you're crashing into everything..

There is also a thing as too fast. For example, a parry that's too fast will miss the punch.

 

[wab25]

One thing that has helped me is to do the technique really slow. Like, take 30 seconds to throw a jab.

When I first started doing this, I would get a little annoyed because I would notice that when I started to throw the jab with my left, my right hand would tighten first. I gave it up and went back to regular speed training... and then got annoyed because I really did tighten my right hand first when throwing a left jab, even at speed. I just never noticed it before, because I was concentrating on fast and hard.

What have found, is that if I slow down my technique, super slow... I have time to analyze the movements I am making, the muscles I am using and path everything is taking. It should be easy, because you should be doing the technique slow enough to be bored of the technique by the time you are done with the first rep. But, that gives you plenty of time to notice lots of details that you don't like.

So, I will take a few minutes, and do the technique I want to work on super slow. I will pick one unnecessary motion, movement, muscle contraction.... that I think I can remove. Then work on the technique slowly, without that piece, and slowly build up the speed. The main focus here is breaking the bad habit of doing the unnecessary piece. This can make you much faster, because you are doing less. By removing the extras... your technique will be faster... even if you are already moving at your physical limit in speed.

I have found that there are lots of ways that I "pull my hand back to punch," and most of those ways don't involve the punching hand... or the hand at all. I have also been able to find many of my tells... and eliminate some of them... this also effectively makes you faster.

 

[letsplaygames]

IMO... A more accurate question "How do I increase my thought process, my reaction time, or my response time? in relation to how I'm training. (for competition or for self defense... or a little of both)

 

[Kung Fu Wang116 146]

One thing that has helped me is to do the technique really slow. Like, take 30 seconds to throw a jab.

How do you breath in that 30 seconds?

All Taiji people move slow. Could they become lighting speed in fight?

 

[gspell68]

Reviving an old thread…

Has anyone else ever tried this?
This is what I did in the 1980’s with on old school metronome and I’d swear it works.
It definitely helped me get more explosive starts and see things in a different time frame.

Google up METRONOME ONLINE.
Meditate for 10 - 15 minutes with it set for 60 beats per minute while doing kata or kihon in your head, IN RESPONSE TO AN OPPONENT.
Then put it into actual, physical practice for 10 - 15 minutes doing kata (ignoring the normal timing and pauses) or kihon while concentrating on finishing one technique per beat.
60 BPM may seem slow at first, but trust the process.
(As you get faster and faster, don’t worry that you may have to recover for multiple beats between techniques, just concentrate on the beat you perform the technique.)
Then repeat both the mental and physical parts at 75 - 80 BPM and let that be the end of the session.
Don’t try to bite off too much all at once.
Give it a day or two for the psychology of it all to set in, since you’re actually training your brain as much or more than your body.

Next session on a different day, start with your 75 - 80 number, then follow up with 100 BPM.
Next session on a different day, start at 100 BPM, then add 15 or 20 BPM.
Keep repeating by adding 5 - 10, then 3 - 5 BPM every session as you progress.
At the end of two weeks you’ll be bending space and time!
(At least in your brain!)

I’m not exactly sure about how it works.
I think it somehow reprograms or pre-programs which muscles get used and which ones need to relax in response to your imaginary opponent.
I certainly got more explosive but in reality I probably only got 10 - 20% faster because I seem to remember topping out around 150 BPM +/- 10 from an initial comfort zone around 110 BPM.
But the biggest gain was in perception.

It’s a weird Neo from The Matrix effect,
or like how a motorcycle rider sees things differently than someone who’s only ever driven a car,
or running full speed downhill to retrain your brain that you can actually run faster than it thinks you can.


This is what ChatGPT had to say:
Meditation with a Metronome for Speed
1. Set a metronome to a slow, steady beat.
• Typically 60–80 BPM to start (1 beat per second).
• Each beat represents a “snapshot” of a movement segment.
2. Relax and focus
• Sit in meditation posture.
• Breathe slowly.
• The mind becomes fully aware of each beat.
3. Visualize the technique in segments
• Imagine executing a punch, kick, or block in sync with the beats.
• For example:
• Beat 1: shift weight
• Beat 2: rotate hips
• Beat 3: extend fist
• Beat 4: retract fist
4. Progressively increase tempo in your mind
• Once the movement is smooth at 60 BPM, increase to 70, 80, etc.
• The brain adapts to faster “internal timing” without physically moving yet.
5. Optional physical follow-through
• After mental practice, do the technique physically in sync with the metronome.
• The combination of mental rehearsal + metronome timing accelerates neuromuscular adaptation.

⸻

Why It Works
• Neural patterning: Your brain “programs” the correct timing and sequence.
• Muscle memory: Even if slow at first, visualization improves real movement efficiency.
• Relaxation + speed: You learn to move quickly without unnecessary tension — critical in karate.
• Reaction rhythm: Helps with fast kumite responses because your body anticipates timing cues subconsciously.

⸻

Variants Practiced in the 80s
• Segmented technique meditation: Break kata or kihon into beats and imagine the movement.
• Two-beat alternating practice: One beat for preparation, one beat for execution.
• Reverse visualization: Imagine completing the movement first, then returning to start in sync with the metronome.

⸻

Notes
• This is not just speed training; it’s speed + precision + rhythm + relaxation.
• Some instructors called it “beat meditation” or “rhythmic kime visualization.”
• It aligns with traditional Okinawan timing principles: chinkuchi, gamaku, and hikite rely on timing the whole body, not just arm speed.

 

[isshinryuronin6 5]

This seems way too contrived and mechanical. I don't like using an outside source dictating the body's natural speed/rhythm. The body is flowing analog, not staccato digital. You can try to get the body to conform to a set repetitive beat, but the body will do what the body can do when it's able to do it. This is variable for each person and even for the same person at different times of their MA development.

Relaxation and tension properly combined, body feel and mental bearing all play a part in speed. A metronome will not teach the body these things. IMO it will be counterproductive to the natural flow and development of movement. The natural timing of each part of movement is different. Leg, hip, arm, and internal factors all work at different speeds and different relaxation/tension timing. Set timing in most every respect of MA is not a good thing - in movement and tactics. It should remain pliable and natural to the person, technique and situation.

 

[skribs115 135]

This reminds me, I need to make my playlist for cardio kickboxing that starts with something mellow (Aerosmith - Dream On) and ramps up to insane speeds by the end (Dragonforce - Die By The Sword).

 

[isshinryuronin6 5]

Now, practicing to music is different than practicing to a repetitive metronome. Musical tempo is not set, but variable - some parts slow, some fast, some flowing, some sudden. This kind of timing more accurately represents natural movement and everchanging tactical situations.

 

[drop bear116 55]

 

[HighKick]

This reminds me, I need to make my playlist for cardio kickboxing that starts with something mellow (Aerosmith - Dream On) and ramps up to insane speeds by the end (Dragonforce - Die By The Sword).

Good on ya if you can keep up the the Dragonforce tempo for very long!