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Old 04-08-2011, 07:15 AM   #26
Walter Martindale
Location: Edmonton, AB
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 802
Canada
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Re: No touch throwing or muppets in a circle?

I suspect that a lot of no-touch throws require slightly more than 0.15 seconds for someone to realize that Master wants him/her to react.
Oh, he's moving
Oh, I'm supposed to fall
Oh, I'm taking ukemi.
or if Master is behind, maybe he or she exhales a certain way so there's an audible cue that uke is supposed to collapse in a heap of jelly.
Lots of movement/reaction/response time research has shown that if you change what someone is trying to react to, it takes about 140 to 150 milliseconds for the person to perceive, process, and respond. They've done it mainly in professional sport where (for example) goal tenders have to respond to someone tipping a hockey puck on its way to the goal - Goalie sees puck on its way to net, starts to react, and if there's no preceding clue that the puck is going to be deflected (i.e., a stick in his/her field of vision moving toward the path of the puck with the intent of deflecting it), it takes about 140-150 ms (a few people are faster) to see the deflection, process the fact that it has deflected, and send out a signal to the muscles that a change of direction is needed. I've long ago discarded the text books otherwise I'd give you some citations. It's the research that they use to set up false-start signals in international track competition - if the pressure on the start block in the sprint comes before a certain amount of time has occurred, they know that the runner was starting to move before the sound of the gun could have been transmitted through the air, pressed on the ear-drums, vibrated the ear-bones, stimulated the nerves in the ear, reached the brain, and been sent out to the muscles in a co-ordinated explosion of effort.

Oh, gosh, sensei wants me to fall... I can see from 3 meters away that he's extending Ki so I'd better cringe and go jello..

However - if Master (or partner in training, for that matter) is about to take my head off, I'm hitting the ground to get out of the way of the strike/neck crank/whatever. It's either that or get hurt. That of course depends on my being able to perceive the danger in time to do something about getting out of the way. - I get hit more often than others because in the 140-150 millisecond response time stuff, I'm a little on the slower side - or I was when I was in my 20s, and 30 years hasn't sped me up.

Last edited by Walter Martindale : 04-08-2011 at 07:22 AM.
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