7 tips on how to improve your reaction and thinking speed

Author: Anton Potashev

It's not just professional athletes who need to know how to develop a reaction, this skill is useful for everyone. In the modern world, there are too many changes that can radically affect life if you “make a fuss” in time and find yourself “on the crest of the wave.” It is precisely because this skill is not available to everyone that it is so valued.

Scientific and technological revolution

Over the past hundred years, people have managed to:

• Change from horses to cars;
• Conquer the sky;
• Rise even higher and reach space;
• Move from telegraphs to radio, television and the Internet;
• Find and develop more drugs than in its entire previous history;
• Explore the Moon and launch hundreds of artificial satellites.

On the one hand, everything happened gradually and over many decades. But if you look back, evaluate the pace and compare the 20th century with any previous century, you will find too many changes for such a short period, from a historical point of view.

Our century promises to be even more intense than the previous century. Only a small part of it has passed, but changes are already noticeable.

Unfortunately, the revolutionary

No changes are planned in the near future for the following reasons:

1. Distant galaxies will remain distant;
2. Humanity will not invent a time machine;
3. No one will detect the aliens;
4. There will be no alternative energy sources.

In any case, this opinion is being formed now. Perhaps the inhabitants of the 19th century thought about the next century in much the same way. Well, what else could be new?

Rest periodically

Video games are addictive and can be difficult to stop. Many people play for several hours at a time. It affects concentration, sleep, and can cause various health problems. It is advisable for gamers to take breaks every hour or two.

You need to get up and walk around, do exercises or stretching. A rested mind and eyes will improve your reaction time. If you find it difficult to tear yourself away from the game, set a strict time frame. After playing for 5 hours in a row, stay away from the computer for the same amount of time. Buy glasses with a blue light filter to reduce the harmful effects of the monitor.

How to develop reaction and speed?

For martial arts and many other sports, speed can be more important than mass and technique:

• Force is mass times speed;
• If there is a “shortfall” in physical indicators, everything can be partially compensated for by acceleration;
• A fast athlete gets many more opportunities, even if only a small part of them is realized;
• A fast moving target is harder to hit, after all.

To develop speed:

1. Work out with weights, start with small weights and gradually increase them;
2. Include obstacle running in your training;
3. Pay due attention to running with sudden changes of direction;
4. Oddly enough, high jumps help;
5. Running with acceleration promotes, oddly enough, acceleration.

You have a certain mass, and all your actions are calculated according to this specific indicator. If it changes unexpectedly, all systems will have to adapt to new conditions and mobilize reserves.

Training with weights will allow you to “learn” to put in extra effort and work beyond your capabilities. All other techniques will help improve not only speed, but also reaction.

In this video, Anatoly Osipov will show a flash game that will help you develop your reaction:

Developing stamina with water and healthy foods

Given the intensity of the games, you will need a lot of energy. A healthy and timely diet can provide this energy. The better the fuel, the longer and better you can play.

Sugar and processed foods are not the best for gamers' minds and bodies. Liquid helps them. Drinking enough water promotes health and concentration. You need to drink water, not juices, coffee or tea.

How to develop a reaction at home: exercises

For home use, just take a couple of tennis balls and we already have an exercise:

• Stand against the wall;
• Throw the ball with one hand, slightly above head level;
• Catch with the same hand;
• Change hands for 5 minutes for each set;
• You complicate the task by throwing with one hand and catching with the other, with alternating shifts.

This task will seem too simple to most, but it gives good results and maintains coordination of movements at the proper level.

The second option for practicing with a tennis ball is much more difficult, but more interesting:

1. The more balls involved, the better;
2. The person being trained stands with his back to the wall;
3. The coach takes the balls and starts throwing them one by one, right in the face;
4. The main task is to evade and not get the “most expensive” one.

The risk of injury is higher, but the method is much more effective. They say that Muhammad Ali trained using this method.

The last of the most accessible options:

• Take a rope and a bag of sand or a bottle of water;
• Tie it to any support; it’s better not to take risks with a chandelier;
• Push the pendulum and try to dodge;
• Add counterattacks, jumps or any other actions to the exercise;
• Trying to do this blindfolded is not recommended.

Browser trainers

3D Aim Trainer

The best browser-based simulator, in which, according to statistics, over 9 million gamers train. You can play it online or offline by downloading the client on Steam.

The training takes the form of a role-playing game - you have to go through 120 training levels, where step by step you will master professional shooting from scratch. Detailed statistics are offered after each training session, the training ground is fully customizable, and the acquired skills will help you perform in Fortnite, CS:GO, Apex Legends, Hyperscape and other shooters.

Play

Aiming

Another good online program that features high-quality 3D graphics. And in general, a pleasant visual style is its main feature. The rest of the options are already familiar to you - detailed analysis, a bunch of modes, a level editor, flexible settings and systems of achievements and levels that motivate you to conquer new heights.

Play

Aim400kg

An old site, existing since 2008. It offers three skills to hone: accuracy, reaction and speed, and each tab offers dozens of modes with different conditions. I am glad that after such a long time of the project’s existence, the audience on it is still active, and in 2020 the developer presented a new version of the site, which boasts a modern design.

Old versionNew version

Aimbooster

A simple trainer presented as a flash game. The training has 9 modes, including customizable (time, speed, accuracy, with moving targets), and the training ground itself is a small window with targets in the form of dots. Yes, this game is devoid of any goodies, but it is available on the weakest PCs, and you can practice right now.

Play

Aim Trainer io

Like Aimbooster, this is a simple simulator, except that its design is much nicer. There are 6 training modes and a control test, as well as tabs for testing reaction speed and pressing. The shooting range itself is presented in the form of a small window with periodically appearing targets.

Play

How to develop reaction in boxing?

The reaction is of great importance for a boxer; they train the sensorimotor

a variation to avoid getting hit in the face in the ring:

1. Allows you to evade a flying object;
2. It was developed in all famous boxers;
3. She is very effective and impressive during her performances;
4. Develops through constant training.

Boxing is not another dimension; all the techniques already mentioned will fit here. For something new, you can add the Fight Ball simulator, which is a kind of combination of a pendulum and a tennis ball.

The prospect of the ball “coming into your face” forces you to move and react to the stimulus faster, which will give you an advantage during sparring or a real fight. These workouts don't build strength, but they can be even more beneficial.

Oddly enough, jumping rope also helps, at the same time:

• “Pumping” the heart muscle;
• Trains the perception of rhythm;
• Increases endurance;
• Provide good reaction speed.

For all beginners, this indicator is at a different level, because it is partly ensured by innate data. But this does not mean that you should give up training and rely only on genetics in everything.

There is no need to despair for those who are having trouble with this - hard training will allow you to achieve amazing results.

Client trainers

Aim Lab

The best training program, which has over 50 thousand extremely positive ratings. She suggests choosing the settings of one of 500 shooters (PUBG, Destiny 2, Overwatch and many others) and perfecting your aim specifically for it, either with a mouse or with a controller. In addition to prepared maps and tasks, an editor with a rich toolkit is available.

At the heart of Aim Lab are advanced tracking methods coupled with machine learning, which evaluate player behavior in detail and present it in a detailed analytical summary. Speaking in human language, Aim Lab will not miss a single move of yours.

Play

KovaaK 2.0

The second most popular trainer on Steam, which has over 15,000 training scenarios. It was developed on the Unreal Engine, so it is difficult to distinguish it from the real game - except that all the textures have been replaced with simpler ones.

KovaaK 2.0 has many features, but we will not describe them all - we simply cannot. This is a fairly rich program that allows you to work out a wide variety of situations, customize everything down to the last detail to suit your gaming style, use built-in content or download custom content from the Steam Workshop, and even try out NVIDIA's Experiment mode and contribute to improving performance.

Buy

Aim Hero

A first- and third-person trainer that simulates the settings of the most popular e-sports shooters such as CS:GO, Fortnite, Rainbow Six Siege and others. There are 8 modes available for training with different difficulty levels, and, according to users, even 2-3 one-time “matches” per week significantly improve results.

Aim Hero is quite flexible and offers you to change the design, aim, weapon behavior, mouse sensitivity and mode parameters according to your wishes. Cumulative statistics will allow you to track whether there are improvements in aim.

Buy

Apex Aim Trainer

And this game is created in the likeness of the battle royale Apex Legends - similar guns, modes and settings are imported here. The player will have to independently determine in what situation he wants to become better: shooting at long distances, close shooting, and others. To do this, you can tweak a dozen parameters, such as the behavior of the bot, the type of its movement, mouse sensitivity, and so on. It's nice to have an aiming assistant, which in the form of a target indicates the ideal position of the lead shot.

Buy

Beat Aim - Rhythm FPS Shooter

An aim trainer presented in the form of a rhythm shooter. Here you can connect your favorite music and passively hone the skill in question, shooting to the beat at everything that moves. Interestingly, the maps are created randomly based on the selected track - you won’t be able to get used to a certain environment.

Content includes an arsenal of guns that opens with progress, 4 types of goals, daily quests and monthly competitions, like in e-sports. We won’t be surprised if such a simulator replaces a full-fledged game for you.

Buy

Osu!

Osu! became a simulator by accident - according to the initial idea, it was just an open-source music game that offers you to download your favorite track and temporarily interact with objects on the screen. The latest were dots, sliders and spinners, randomly placed on the screen at different periods of time. This kind of gameplay is difficult to describe, because it’s easier to try it once.

As a result, Osu! has become an excellent two-dimensional trainer because it also develops reaction speed and accuracy. Stars and points received for completing the track help you track your progress. But, for example, what happens on the heaviest “map” - watch.

Play

Simple FPS Aim Trainer

This simple Aim trainer will run even on weak laptops, but at the same time it offers the same rich functionality as other guests in the collection. Here you can calibrate mouse sensitivity, try out several training options, change the position of target elements on the map and delve into other settings, and the built-in rating system motivates you to constantly improve.

Buy

Why is it important to respond quickly to changes?

In everyday life and at work it is necessary to quickly respond to any changes

, to any external stimuli:

1. Take the initiative into your own hands;
2. Talk and think at the same time;
3. Try to adapt to changing conditions;
4. Take on any opportunity that seems promising.

The fair sex, in this regard, is somewhat ahead of men. Women are socially adapted and cope better with any changes, trying to integrate themselves into the changed picture of the world.

It's great to try to change the world, but the effort isn't always worth the results. Sometimes it’s easier to come to terms with the current state of affairs and try to “grab” what’s yours during any changes. By successfully getting involved a couple of times, you can get rid of many problems for the rest of your days, but again, this is not given to everyone.

Do hand and wrist exercises to develop flexibility and grip.

The arms and hands are the most important part of the body for gaming. Whether you have a keyboard or a joystick, stiff fingers can have a bad effect on the results. You need to concentrate on stretching and strengthening your arms and hands. Exercises are also needed to develop correct posture during long games.

Stretching Tips

You need movements that relax the joints and tendons from the fingers to the forearm. A great example is the prayer stretch. Press your palms and fingers together with your elbows pointing outward. Hold this position for about 30 seconds, gently pushing your bound hands downward to apply more force to your wrists.

You also need exercises for your fingers. The thumb extensor stretch is simple and effective. The thumb is placed on the palm and pinched with the remaining fingers. Then smoothly turn your fist towards your little finger.

Exercises like these can be done throughout the day without even thinking about it. There should be no pain with them. There is no need to strain your joints more than they can bear.

Strength Exercise Tips for Gamers

Your grip on the controller affects your response just as much as your flexible hands. You can lift weights, but there are simpler and more precise exercises for gamers. For example, place your fingers in a loop on an elastic band. Then push them apart as far as you can, overcoming the resistance of the tape. Repeat the exercise over and over again.

A flexible rod may be helpful. While holding it, try to push it up with your thumb. Repeat this movement. Or you can hold one end of the rod and place the other on the table. Place your elbow on the table and try to bend the rod inward. A bend of a few centimeters will cause the entire arm to bend.

Buy a wrist trainer

Depending on how seriously you want to strengthen your grip, you can buy different devices. For example, a tool like Hand Exerciser.

The ergonomic compact design makes it easy to carry the exercise machine with you.

Everything for reaction speed

To develop a reaction, athletes need to:

• Jump rope;
• Work with weights;
• Do obstacle course running;
• Train running with acceleration;
• Buy a tennis ball and throw it at the wall for 10 minutes;
• Include running with a change of direction in each lesson;
• Learn how to use the Fight Ball simulator.

All this will help improve innate qualities and increase reaction speed. Over time, results may remain unsatisfactory or growth may seem too slow.

Just videotape your first session and watch it again a few weeks or months later for comparison. Improvements do come gradually, so they are easy to miss, even over a long distance.

If you decide to take up martial arts, it’s best to start learning how to develop a reaction after the first training. This characteristic largely determines the success of an athlete, even with not the most outstanding physical data.

Exercises with the Fight Ball simulator

• Practicing single and serial strikes of different strengths and trajectories, without letting the ball touch your face.
• Return to a fighting stance after each blow or series.
• Perform step 2 while moving.
• Performing step 3 without looking at the ball (the gaze is focused on a third-party object) - training the reaction of peripheral vision.

"A fight with a shadow"

Imitation of various attacking and defensive actions, with changes in intensity and speed.

Exercises in pairs and sparring

Practicing the speed of response to intentional (pre-determined) and unexpected actions of a partner.

Methodological recommendations also include playing team sports (table tennis, football, basketball) and finger games (odd-even, rock-paper-scissors, crackers).

Practice shows that training complex movements, the ability to optimally manage muscle tension, and improving technical and tactical training help increase the speed characteristics of a motor reaction.

Cards in games

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

If you decide to prove yourself in competitive matches in the most popular e-sports shooter CS:GO, then it is better to think about aim. You can test it and hone it right in the game, on maps created by users in the editor and posted in the Steam workshop. That is, here you will have exactly the same guns, enemy models and in-game settings, and immediately after training you can move on to competitions.

There are actually quite a lot of cards, and quite a few of them are popular not only among ordinary players, but also among e-sportsmen who win world tournaments. Here are a couple of them with links to the workshop:

• Training: Bot Aim V4C – an old but time-tested map on which you can create walls, windows, boxes, doors and other objects
• Aim Botz is the most popular map where S1mple, STYKO, NAF and other e-sportsmen practice
• Recoil Master – Spray Training – for spray training
• AIM Challenge – to sharpen your reflexes
• Training Center 1.5c – a training center rich in capabilities
• training_aim_csgo2 – 5-star rated map for training reflexes, speed and accuracy

Fortnite

Fortnite's sandbox has a creative mode where people build whatever they can think of, including training grounds. Maps are also freely available, and you can easily get them into your library. Fortnite is good because it improves your aim over long distances and with a third-person view, which is useful in battle royales. Well, it will teach you how to build giant towers on the go, which, however, is only relevant for the current project.

List of interesting cards (by codes):

• 3443-2839-6606 – a winter location for training anything and everything in Fortnite
• 5531-1890-2291 – aim training with a shotgun
• 3847-4226-5095 – here the target is hordes of zombies
• 8022-6842-4965 – a map made in the image of the KovaaK program described above
• 2889-5729-6480 – a training ground marked by e-sportsmen Tfue, Chap and Symfuhny
• 8898-7406-1141 – 90% shooting and 10% construction

Contact area of ​​reacting substances

For heterogeneous reactions, one way to increase the number of effective collisions is to increase the reaction surface area . The larger the contact surface area of ​​the reacting phases, the greater the rate of the heterogeneous chemical reaction. Powdered zinc dissolves much faster in acid than granular zinc of the same mass.

In industry, to increase the contact surface area of ​​reacting substances, the “fluidized bed” method .

For example , in the production of sulfuric acid using the “fluidized bed” method, pyrites are fired.