Keys to Success - Speed

Let’s imagine two fighters with equal abilities. They both only know how to do one punch, but that punch alone can knock a person out. Which one is going to win? The answer is the first one to land that punch. In this article, we will look at the factors that affect speed and why they are critical in martial arts training.

We need to break down the variables that affect the speed of a technique. The first variable is called Stimulus Identification. This is where you realize something has occurred and you identify it. In sparring, it may be that your opponent is throwing a backfist toward your head. The second variable is called Response Selection. This is where you decide what you are going to do about it. In sparring, you might choose to do a high block. The third variable is called Response Programming. This is where your body gets ready for the appropriate reaction and initiates the reaction. In sparring, you recall how to execute the high block and your brain sends the signals to the appropriate parts of the body. The final variable is known as Movement Time. It is concerned with how long it takes your muscles to complete the technique. The speed of your technique then is the sum of the first 3 variables (Reaction Time) plus the Movement Time.

Now that we know what the variables are, what can be done to improve them? Scientists have done considerable research on Reaction Time and the first stage is the most difficult to improve. I would suggest watching and/or sparring with as many people as possible. By really analyzing how people move and watching their mannerisms, you will improve your ability to recognize when an attack is coming and the nature of the attack.

The best way to improve your Response Selection is to limit the number of responses to be considered for a given attack. As an example, you might choose to always use an inside block for a punch thrown at your torso. In Tang Soo Do, we have a relatively large number of hand strikes and kicks. That doesn’t mean that I would use them all in a physical confrontation. Bill Wallace was known as Karate’s fastest kicker and he only used 3 kicks, a round kick, a side kick and a hook kick, all done with the left leg. Joe Lewis dominated the three worlds of Karate (point fighting, full contact Karate and professional kick boxing) and relied on three techniques, a back fist, a back kick and a side kick. Bruce Lee was an advocate of using only your best technique, doing it with your lead hand and doing it first. If keeping it simple worked for these 3 champions, it will work for you.

Response Programming is minimized by reducing the complexity of the technique. If a technique is so complex that it requires thought, your response time will suffer. The more you practice a technique, the less time it takes to program the response. Ideally, you will repeat the technique often enough that it takes no conscious thought to execute it.

The last variable is Movement Time. This is the amount of time required by the body to execute a technique. Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, our fastest Karate techniques will be those that follow that direct line and will be done with the lead hand/foot. You can also improve this variable with practice, but your practice must be aimed at doing the technique with speed.

An additional aspect of speed is your ability to flow from one technique to another during the course of an attack. You will see very good examples of this type of flow hitting in One-Steps 11-15 as we work on them. I learned these techniques from Dr. LaTourrette’s book referenced below. Dr. LaTourrette generously gave me permission to use them in our curriculum. They were designed to flow together and complement each other, taking advantage of openings created by previous strikes. By learning and practicing them as a complete set of strikes, they can be done in less than a second. This makes it nearly impossible for your opponent to defend because there is no time to react between strikes. This is a very important concept. If you understand speed and the factors that affect it, you can do things that increase your speed and things that will decrease the speed of your opponent.

I’ll give you an example. I mentioned Bill Wallace earlier and how he basically only used three kicks. You knew he was going to kick with the left leg, so why couldn’t he be stopped. One of the reasons is he didn’t give away which kick he was going to do when he cocked his leg. You couldn’t prepare your defense early because it could still come from either side or straight in. By cocking his leg this way, it didn’t speed up the kicks, but it increased the reaction time of his opponent. The concepts of feinting (faking) and ‘broken timing’ also fit in here. When your opponent expects something and it doesn’t happen, it disrupts his thought processes and his reaction time increases. There are many more speed concepts presented in the following publications and I highly recommend them.

Secrets of Speed Fighting: Methods of the Masters by Dr. John (Speed Man) LaTourrette, 1992. This is a 250+ page softcover book available at www.thespeedman.com. It also contains the techniques we use as One-Steps 11-15 with photos.

Minimizing Reflex and Reaction Time, American Sports Research Association, 1988. This is a 17 page softcover report that I got from www.healthforlife.com.

Donnie Chaffin,
3rd Dan