In the blink of an eye...

[Olgierd Pado]

... you can die.

Hi!
Recently, while practicing meisterhau I noticed that I have a tendency to blink and shrink back when I see a sword blade coming at my head (and we were not doing it fast ...).
Therefore I would like to find out if you have had the same problem, do you think that it is possible to train yourself not to react in such a way?
Do you know any useful exercises that may help with the problem (apart from standing and having your partner swing at you). I am loking for something thay may be practiced at home.
I heard of one which comes from EMA, but since I do not know any WMA exercises I've decided to post it here:
Basically you have to stare without blinking at a candle flame for as long as you can.
If you can do it for five minutes then you are good.
I've tried that and the results were not very impressive <img src="/forum/images/icons/frown.gif" alt="" /> - less than 30 seconds.

I am suspicious of anything connected with looking into flames / mirros / meditation and such, but can not evaluate this exercise. Perhaps someone more experienced can tell if it is of any use.

Any ideas?

Cheers
Olgierd

[Scott Anderson]

From my experience it's not an uncommon occurance in a number of people. I used to have that problem myself. I think that the only real way to get past it is to realize, deep down, that what you're doing is dangerous, and more or less resign yourself to that fact. once you hit that point of "so be it" you'll find yourself not doing it as much, and it can also help with the performance of some techniques that have a higher risk of injury if something goes wrong.

Personally I think it's one of the major steps in learning a combat skill.

SPA

[Casper Bradak]

It's not much different than flinching or blinking when using a firearm. Some good methods of training yourself out of it are sparring at a slow enough speed that you don't do it, and working your way up.
Also practicing your defenses and techniques with intent, or in the same manner, should build you up to it in freeplay.

[TimSheetz]

A technique that I heard Americn Football players use. When they hit others their face mask may contact the other players and if they are constantly blinking it is a problem. To get used to it, they would wear their helmet and with their open hand smack the front of their face mask until they get a more reasonable blink response.

I think also that doing a drill where your opponent does not hit you but makes an aggressive seeming attack while you stand and relax may be a way to recondition a natural but ineffective response... then once relaxed out of it, you can get your natural reaction to be a useful one.

Hope that helps.

Tim

[Patrick Hardin]

Flinching is just a natural reflex action that many of us experience when we're starting our martial training. My advice is simply: spar, spar, spar. Once you begin to get accustomed to the motion and the situation you're in, then you will find yourself blinking less often, and then hardly at all. I used to flinch a lot, but now that I've been doing this for a few years, I don't flinch near as much anymore. I think that with time, you can train yourself not to do it.

One other thing I would suggest would be to practice certain counter cuts, like scheitelhau, for example (quick downward vertical cut from the elbow, aimed at the head). When you do certain counters, it looks like your opponent is still going to hit you, but if you do them right, you hit him instead. Scheitelhau can displace a vertical cut, though when you do it, for an instant it seems that you are going to be cut instead. But it works. That might be a good way to weed out your blinking reflex.

Patrick Hardin

[Guest]

I have found that doing an exercise of at least four techniques in sequence in a cyclical fashion provides a controlled situation where you know what techniques are coming at you. It might help your aversion to the blade coming at you if you have a controlled environment. You then move on to more alive methods of training like a parry riposte (give and take drill) and sparring "In Time" and finally actual sparring. Good luck.

[JeanryChandler]

Do you know any useful exercises that may help with the problem (apart from standing and having your partner swing at you).

Do a lot more full contact, full force sparring. After a while your body and your mind will both realise they are less likely to endure jarring painful impact by keeping open and watching the opponent. It's similar IMHO to people who duck their head in a fist fight. Best way to overcome the tendancy is more experience.

JR

[Shane Smith]

It hurts you just as much whether you see a blow landing or not but keeping your eyes on the guy all along makes you much more likely to avoid a blow in the first place <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" /> .

[Jeffrey Hull]

Have someone you trust stand just out of range from you and throw jabs at your face -- without landing the blow of course. Stand there and let him/her do that until you simply do not fear it any more. Caveat: This is done at your own risk. Good luck! JH

[Olgierd Pado]

Thanks guys,

Seems that regular sparring is the key - something I suspected. I was thinking more of exercises that can be done at home (thx Tim, I'll give it a try) -since I am living in a flat, my practice possibilities are somewhat limited <img src="/forum/images/icons/frown.gif" alt="" />

Cheers
Olgierd

[Casper Bradak]

In that case, I don't know what it's called, but one of those leather punching balls that is suspended by 2 elastic cords, so that it rebounds when it's struck, works well to train people out of flinching.

[Patrick Hardin]

One rather abstract thing you could try would be to try to place your head closer to moving objects. Nothing like cars, or golf clubs or baseball bats or anything like that, of course! <img src="/forum/images/icons/tongue.gif" alt="" /> But maybe try things like getting your face closer to doors when you close them. I used to unlock the back door of my mother's van and as it slowly opened, I would place my face as close as I could to where I thought the door was going to pass as it opened upwards. Eventually, I was able to get my face within a centimeter or so of the door without flinching. This is kind of wierd, I know, but it is a way to sort of find little things in your everyday life that can help you with your training in some small way. And it's just an example. I'm sure there are other ways I haven't thought of.

Patrick Hardin

[Joachim Nilsson]

We used to do something similar to that when I still trained kickboxing.

What we did was to partner up with someone. Then one of the guys (or gals) stood with their back against the wall while the other training partner put on a pair of boxing gloves. Then the person with the gloves on would start throwing out straight left and right punches just to the side of the "trainee's" head, hitting the wall in the process. The pace and force of the strikes would gradually increase. Which means that you, if you were the one standing against the wall, had punches in your field of vision coming at you really and really hard after a while. With time I noticed that the increased force in the blows made quite a sound when you hit the wall beside the other person's head. And that seemed to be rather annoying or frightening to beginners (who of course after a while learned not to flinch or blink so much <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" /> ).

Perhaps an exercise like this one could be augmented for historical WMA-training to help those who find themselves flinching/blinking at inappropriate moments?

[Joachim Nilsson]

While still on the subject of flinching I'd like to add an amusing historical anecdote. This is, once again as in a different thread, from Olaus Magnus' History of the Nordic Peoples from 1555.

[5th book, chapter 16, page 687]

"About fencingdrills

... Also were some of them so skilled in the noble art of fencing, that they with an unfallable cut could hit the opponants eyebrow. If someone cowardly blinked, he soon was thrown out of court and lost his pay. Because they had of nature such mastery over their emotions and their faces, that they, even though they recieved a cut in their eyes, did not in the slightest frown their eyebrows and against all assailants' tries to bring them from their senses [they] retained a never failing piece of mind. ..."

[Translation by me.]

Although actually physically hitting the opponant's eyebrows seems a bit far fetched (I've had my own eyebrow hit with a waster once. It burst wide open like a ripe tomato.), I have no doubt in my mind that the swordsmen of the time had the necessary controll and skill to stop the cut just before impact. Wheteher or not they did this as a regular part of training or just to weed out those they thought "unworthy" or cowardly Olaus Magnus doesn't say. But it's still quite intriguing that they tested one another and each others abilities in such a manner.

Intriguing or not, if true, it still attests to the skill of the swordsmen of the time. Provided they didn't actually hit the eyebrow of course. <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

Regards,