No Reflexes? Forget Being Slow!

I Turned My Slow Ass Into a Streak of Lightening Through
Exercises and Research!

I'll Show You How to Develop Insane Reflexes the Same Way!

So, you have no reflexes?  Are you trying to figure out how to get faster?  Sharpening every reflex in your body is obviously no easy task.

Don’t lose hope.  I use to be the slowest man alive.  The word “reflex” never existed in the dictionary of my youth.  I never had a formal reflex test via audio-visual response measurement (as we use in anthropometrics), however I clearly remember always swinging at the ball in softball well after it passed; in addition to kicking at the soccer ball long after it had rolled through my legs and had been arrested by the net of my own team’s goal.

As you can guess, I was nearly always the last player to be picked for teams.  I was accustomed to lacking anything resembling a reflex.  Not only did I recognize it, but others made me well aware of the fact that I was the literal antithesis of reflexes.

I was tired of being slow.  I was tired of having no reflexes and being uncoordinated.  Eventually, things changed.  As I grew older, I wanted to learn how to get faster.  I became increasingly involved in sports like paintball and martial arts and developed a genuine desire to improve my reflexes in the process.

I’ve always been rather lean (never passing 160 pounds in bodyweight).  In order to compete with the “big dogs” in sports, I eventually began to rely on being faster than them; not necessarily bigger or stronger.  Knowing how to be fast has allowed me to do well in sports I would normally be squashed in – due simply to my ability to get the hell out of the way… or in the way, depending on the game.

Over time, through my interest in the way the brain works with the body I gained many insights into the workings of human reflexes.  I learned scientific exercises and methods to use to create powerful results.  My own reflexes are a living example of the fulfillment of my burning desire to learn how to get faster.

Thus, once I entered my profession as a self-improvement author, I made a point of exposing some of my insights on reflexes in my writing:  I created Developing Insane Reflexes.  It is a concise compilation of exercises for you to use to improve your reflexes.

Below, I have included 5 techniques for you.  To learn 20 additional, more powerful methods to develop insane reflexes, continue to the next page.

1.  Medicine Ball Throws & Dodging

Medicine balls are not just for people looking to play catch or work their abs!  Truthfully, I attribute much of my explosive upper body strength and reflexes to several medicine ball exercises.  Dynamic strength and your ability to track and respond to moving objects are critical to sharpening every single reflex.  What better way to develop brisk reflexes than with a medicine ball!

Obtain a medicine ball.  Depending on your strength, you may start with a 4 pound to 12 pound ball; eventually working your way up to a 20 pound medicine ball.  For the first exercise, lie on your back.  Brace the ball with both hands over your chest. Shoot the ball straight up (by flicking your wrists) as you would when passing a basketball (or a medicine ball). Move your head out of the way at the last second, or test your reflex by blocking the ball right before it hits you upon landing. For an added challenge to improve your reflex, hold your hands down by your side until the last possible moment before catching the medicine ball. Doing so will also prevent you from “leading” the catch of the medicine ball, making it too easy to intercept. You can improve on different variations, such as lying facing a wall and throwing the medicine ball up and off of the wall, then catching it between your shins, or kicking it over your head. For the second reflex exercise, have a partner stand 10 feet away.  As a game, throw the medicine ball between you, targeting different areas of the body.  The other person much duck, jump, or run to catch it – or block it.  Develop your game every 6 reps by backing up one foot – this will gradually increase the difficulty and improve your reflexes as your body learns to move faster.

2:  Striking & Dodging Ball on String

This reflex tool may be considered “the poor man’s double-end bag.”  If you are not familiar with double-end bags, they are excellent for developing agility and timing for strikes.  With one end attached to the ceiling and one to the floor, the double-end bag “bounces” back and forth quickly with each strike, allowing for practing strikes and dodges. A device with similar reflex developing benefits may be constructed very easily.

Simply select a small stone (half pound or less) and wrap it tightly in a plastic bag to serve as the core for your "ball."  Next, wrap the plastic bag tightly in a paper bag, wrapping the entire ball with packaging tape as tightly as possible.  The entire ball should be approximately the size of your fist. Hang the ball from the ceiling at face height, preferably with a "springy" string.  When striking the ball, it will move around relatively sporadically (due to its rough shape, compared to a predictable tennis ball).  Practice moving around the ball while striking it, allowing it to swing out and dodge it.  Allow it to swing behind your head, so you may practice evading strikes from behind (wait until the last second, to develop brisk reflexes vs. ‘leading’ the reflex action).  Continued use of this reflex exercise will also work wonders toward sparial awareness of your entire body (around your head, torso, sides, back, etc).

Although not as “bouncy” as a true double-end bag, the reflex “ball” you have made has the advantage of being able to swing behind and arc around your head, unlike the relatively straight linear motions of the double-end bag.  Additionally, lacking a floor anchor, it may be kicked easily from beneath; allowing you to improve your kick reflex.

3:  Precision Footwork

Precision footwork drills will help you to develop speed and reflexes in any sport requiring coordinated foot movement (which is most) and faster body weight shifts. Using tape, mark a standard tic-tac-toe grid (3 x 3) on the ground. Each cell should be about 1.5’ x 1.5’ in dimension (making the overall size 4.5’ x 4.5’).  This size isn’t too big, yet is big enough to give you the room to move and stretch your muscles between grid cells. Mark the cells “1” through “9”, starting with a corner cell. The middle cell should be should “5.”

To perform the reflex drills, stand in the center cell, 5. Have a friend call out random numbers between 1 and 9. Jump to the cells they call (on one foot or both).  Go a few rounds, taking turns with your partner, until you have an intuitive idea of where the cells are. Next, begin timing yourself with a stop-watch. Create different sequences, write them down, and read them off quickly, timing how long it takes for each sequence. Work on improving your reflex times more and more each set. Not only is it a great workout, but you’ll become faster at footwork and improve your balance within your “blood zone”; that is, the three foot radius area around you in all directions.  When you do not have a partner available, practice your own footwork drills; such as starting with feet spread on the edges, jumping to bring them together in the middle and spreading them again as you jump to the far edge. Either way, it's a perfect game to whip your body into shape and develop your reflexes.

4:  Parkour

The art of parkour should not be confused with “freerunning.”  While freerunning focuses on trick moves and jumps to overcome obstacles acrobatically, parkour focuses on speed and efficiency.  Freerunning can be considered a form of self-expression, whereas parkour is the use of critical thinking skills and physical control to overcome obstacles as quickly as possible with the least effort.  Parkour is not neccessarily superior to freerunning and both certainly require reflexes; however I consider parkour to be more useful in the development of total reflexes and focused speed.  Parkour can be done in a city or in a forest. A city will build more explosiveness and toughness in your body (the environment is harder, with greater variations in height). A forest is “busier” (denser), so it will develop your reflex action to respond to a continuous pummeling of small obstructions. In the city, run anywhere that provides physical obstructions and don’t jump on top of people’s cars – it really pisses them off! Just keep moving no matter what, focus on constructing a move before you reach an obstacle and strive to develop your game - if you feel like climbing or jumping, make sure whatever you are pulling on or landing on is stable.  Repeated landing and jumping can literally develop “cat-like” reflexes.  In a forest, run off the trail, increasing your pace as you gradually improve your reflex time. Jumping over logs, watching out for holes, ducking under branches and sliding around trees will force you to stay on top of your game; necessitating that you develop brisk reflexes. It’s obviously also a great workout.  The key focus in parkour is flow - moving as quickly and efficiently around or over any obstacle. Most importantly, be safe and don’t go faster than you can handle. If you feel like you are losing control, you need to slow down.

5:  Deathball

Deatball is a badass reflex game created by engineers here at GMI.  It will develop your reflexes in the most brutal way possible.  The game can be played with 2, 3 or 4 players.

Deathball is played in a racquetball court.  The objective is to hit (in any form, be it slap, kick, knee or headbutt) the ball across the court and strike the other team’s wall (while preventing it from striking your wall).  The ball may not be caught or grasped.  Catching it results in the opposing team receiving a point.  When playing 1 on 1 or 2 on 2, a wall strike is counted as 1 point.  When playing 1 on 2, a wall strike from the 2 player side counts as 1 point, while a wall strike from the 1 player side counts as 2 points.  Aside from those guidelines, there are no rounds, rules or regulations!  Deathball is truly a great reflex game to learn how to get faster, while simultaneously providing an excellent workout.  In relation to tennis or normal racquetball, deathball is superior in developing brisk reflexes.  You must move faster than in tennis (as the ball bounces more frequently), and unlike normal racquetball, you employ all parts of your body and reflexes in the game to strike the ball as “naturally” as possible (without the use of any striking instruments).  If you have no reflex in a particular area of your body and wish to improve a particular reflex action, make all your strikes come from that limb / joint. Work on moving faster and faster every game.