Adrenaline

I noticed yesterday how debilitating that rush of adrenaline can be to fine motor control. How does one train for this? How do you overcome the adrenaline rush that comes with imminent physical conflict? Sparring is one thing (not that I've done a hell of a lot of that, I need more) but the realization that this is real tends to give one quite a rush that isn't very amenable to fine martial application.

Any suggestions?

You use it to your advantage, don't 'fight' it. Practice more gross motor skills in a more realistic way. Work on what is more practical, basic and natural to you.

Fear is a good thing...it keeps you alive.'

It's easier to train for the physical rather than the mental aspects of the adrenaline rush, but any training is a simulacrum, not the real thing.

One way to simulate the tunnel vision, loss of fine motor control, etc. is to run to near exhaustion at your *maximum* capacity (anaerobic) before sparring. You should be panting like a racehorse, have spots in front of your eyes, legs shaky, and possibly feel nauseated. It's only really practical to do this outdoors and it's rather unpleasant (only the most dedicated will do it full-out), but it does come close - and it'll get you in great shape if you don't die of an aneurysm first To really emphasize the fine motor aspects do some heavy resistance work that exhausts your arm/chest muscles before the sprint, say as many push-ups as you can (I suggest stressing the arms since that's where you'll notice the loss of fine control most). Remember it doesn't matter if you 'lose' in such sparring - you're objective is different (to master your body and emotions, learn what techniques are too fancy, etc.)

The mental aspect comes mostly from sparring, the harder the better (hard in the sense it presses you to your limits and beyond, not that you get the shit kicked out of you) and visualization/mental rehearsal. If you want to really stress yourself, simulate an injury such as being unable to use one arm (tie your wrist to your belt, say).

If you want to feel some of the emotional stress, arrange to have someone slap your face when you don't expect it. Try to 'capture' the feeling of the instant visceral anger this arouses before it dissipates (and don't kill the slapper). Tony Blauer has some good exercises for the type of verbal abuse that may precede fights.

Another separate route is to fear-stress yourself - perhaps by bungee jumping, rock climbing, etc. Concentrate on the emotional aspects (I don't want to catch you enjoying yourself

Regards,

The way we approach it is to train in high reps, low impact. When we do the djurus, the short sets of practice movements, we train to start the adrenaline rush consciously. The more you do it, the easier it is to handle when it happens. Our style is for response to attack from ambush by one or more armed men. We train to control that first rush of 'fear/aggression' by repeating the experience a little bit a lot of times. Works.

Chas http://members.xoom.com/kilap/Keepsafe.htm http://members.xoom.com/kilap/cane.html http://members.xoom.com/kilap/monkey.html http://www.kuntaosilat.com/

Pressure training. Try lots of pad work before you start sparring. Have your partners shout and scream at you, slap you. For example - your partner wears focus mitts, you stand with your arms up. He slaps your body with the mitts, screaming at you. You have to maintain eye contact and keep talking in a calm voice.

Just one example, play around, there are many more.

there is no 'REAL' way to train fear out of you. to lose fear is to lose feeling and emotion. you become mechanized and uncaring. in the old days, samurai would imagine thier death first thing in the morning. Weather it worked or not, no one dead ever came back to say so. Sure you CAN become 'desensitized' to fear, but that leads to arrogance. Fear isn't a bad thing, it can work FOR you. It keeps your wits about you, your survival instinct. 9/10 times your reaction WILL be instinctual. My way, don't worry about it. we all die, some sooner then later. Besides, when it's your time it's your time, weather your on the pot, or in combat. you don't get to pack.

Ok, how do you train to start it conciously?

I'm sure it does. I'm just not sure how to conciously start an autonomic nervous reaction in my own body, other than going out and provoking big guys, running away, and then practicing

Ex-wife, thank you very much!

And her nagging became an undertone; I didn't even notice it anymore.

Now if I could do this to the adrenaline, that's what I'm talking about!

Yeah, I do do Yoga as well. The relaxation stuff I'm learning is phenomenal.

I must have mis-stated. I don't want to lose fear, or the adrenaline rush, I want to work with it and not have it be debilitating to fine motor control and clear thought.

Not possible. During an 'Adrenaline Flood,' Adrenaline (and it's brother Nor-Adrenaline) have certain effects upon the nevous system. Among those are 1) Loss of fine motor skills [gets real hard to thread that needle] 2) Dampening of pain receptors 3) 'Fog' or 'Tunnel Vission' [often affecting the reasoning process] 4) Dramatic increase in Oxygen and ATP [muscle energy] effeciency 5) Dramatic increase in Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, and Breathing [related to #3 & #4]

In short, Adrenaline (& Nor-Adrenaline) are naturally created -DRUGS-. You can not 'not have [the] debilitating [effects]' of this or any other drug (such as alcohol, PCP, etc.) because it causes chemical, neurological, and physical reactions in your body. The absolute best you can do is 1) Learn what to expect and how to work with it when you are under it's influence 2) Learn, through conditioning, how to mentally avoid the 'Fight or Flight' response thus avoiding the 'Adrenaline Flood.'

The best place to look for good information on this is from LEA (Law Enforcment Agencies, i.e. the cops), FBI, & Bodyguard firearms confrontation training. It's real important for these guys to be able to shoot strait (or at least not shoot the wrong people) when they're Adrenaline Flooding because some gang-banger is waving a .38 at them.

Good luck with your training.

Peace favor your sword, Kirk Lawson

Answering that is not a short term proposition; there are physical things, psychological things- even some spiritual stuff that people here would find at odds with their belief system- stuff I cannot prove, stuff that might be named wrong or a principle given that is at odds with 'common knowledge'- Look at Mad Erle Montaigues' work on the 'reptilian brain'- it's in the same direction, although I think that ours is a bit more 'fleshed out' than what is reflected in his books and videos.

Chas http://members.xoom.com/kilap/Keepsafe.htm http://members.xoom.com/kilap/cane.html http://members.xoom.com/kilap/monkey.html http://www.kuntaosilat.com/