Reaction time

[Peatit]

I practice a martial art and i've always (as long as I can remember) noticed that I have a poor (long) reaction time when it comes to dodge an attack for example.
I'm not sure if it has worsened with time but if it has it has been on a very long time frame as i didn't noticed an abrupt change lately.
Has someone an explanation for this?

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

There are many possible causes. The first I would look at is the fact that a muscle needs to disengage before it can move. Therefore, if you're holding yourself up with the muscles used to move, then you're gonna be slower. Just practice getting people to punch near your face and dodging it for a few months, and you'll surely notice a difference.

 

[Peatit]

There are many possible causes. The first I would look at is the fact that a muscle needs to disengage before it can move. Therefore, if you're holding yourself up with the muscles used to move, then you're gonna be slower. Just practice getting people to punch near your face and dodging it for a few months, and you'll surely notice a difference.

It's interesting because I am particularly inflexible (stiff) and I think it is a related matter of antagonist muscles being incompletely relaxed.
Is this a possible manifestation of excitotoxicity?

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

It is a complex system. I wouldn't look for a reduced root cause. It may be as simple as: everyone who stretches hard everyday for months will become more flexible. You can purposefully stop carrying tension and start getting regular massages.

 

[Kasper]

I use the grid foam roller, for getting rid of stiff muscle

 

[jaa]

The original strength stuff I posted a while back works much better for me than any foam rolling or mobility exercises ever did in terms of loosening muscles and freeing the frame. That will certainly help in terms of reflexes as your muscles well be relaxed yet strongly supported by your skeleton.

I also posted a study earlier today that suggests that reaction time is related to metabolism. The faster your metabolism, the more discrete frames of time you perceive and it follows that you will react faster.

There's also the genetic side of things. You might be a slow poke even if your not performing near your optimal reaction time.

 

[oxidation_is_normal]

Jaa, there's nothing in that study that suggests increasing an organisms (humans) reaction time above normal increases reaction time.

For this all we need to do is look to the people who have achieved those great reaction times and follow their professed training regimen (Bruce Lee et al).

 

[tara]

There are many possible causes. The first I would look at is the fact that a muscle needs to disengage before it can move. Therefore, if you're holding yourself up with the muscles used to move, then you're gonna be slower. Just practice getting people to punch near your face and dodging it for a few months, and you'll surely notice a difference.

It's interesting because I am particularly inflexible (stiff) and I think it is a related matter of antagonist muscles being incompletely relaxed.
Is this a possible manifestation of excitotoxicity?

The achilles heel test used to be used to assess hypothyroid, and Peat refers to it from time to time. It measures how quickly the foot relaxes down after the achilles tendon has been struck. Slow indicates hypothyroid. Peat has writen in at least one of his articles, maybe more, about how there has to be enough energy available for muscles to be able to relax quickly and fully after contraction.

I've had chronically tight achilles tendons for as long as I can remember (and have injured them more than once). After reading peat, I assume this is one of my symptoms of low thyroid function. I also tend to be chronically tight in other joints too.
I disagree with oxidation about it only being a matter of doing the right exercises and stretching (though that may help too).

 

[Peatit]

The achilles heel test used to be used to assess hypothyroid, and Peat refers to it from time to time. It measures how quickly the foot relaxes down after the achilles tendon has been struck. Slow indicates hypothyroid. Peat has writen in at least one of his articles, maybe more, about how there has to be enough energy available for muscles to be able to relax quickly and fully after contraction.

I've had chronically tight achilles tendons for as long as I can remember (and have injured them more than once). After reading peat, I assume this is one of my symptoms of low thyroid function. I also tend to be chronically tight in other joints too.
I disagree with oxidation about it only being a matter of doing the right exercises and stretching (though that may help too).

I think you're on something VERY interesting!

From the transcribed interview It’s Rainmaking Time -­ Energy-­Protective Materials (June 2014):
"Reaction tests, the speed at which your muscles react and relax, corresponds to your thyroid function and oxidative metabolism."

Stiffness seems indeed a common feature of hypothyroidism:
http://ard.bmj.com/content/29/1/10.full.pdf

And long reaction time seems to be caused by thyroid dysfunction:
This study for example shows that reaction time is lengthened in hypothyroid AND hyperthyroid state but you can see that hypothyroid people are even slower than hyper
http://www.iosrphr.org/papers/v2i2/S022218221.pdf

Have you (or others) tried extra thyroid and noticed an improvement on those symptoms?