Improving visual & brain speed for badminton

[gregr999]

Take your game to the next level: Improve visual & brain speed

This is something that intermediate players as well as elite athletes can develop to vastly improve sports performance . Many collegiate, professional & amateur athletes (& even aging athletes) engage in sports vision training and/or use brain development software to improve reaction time, visual skills & other apsects of mental speed and acuity.

The URL below links to an excellent article on the subject of brain speed (how fast the mind puts the body in motion). Developing quicker cognitive processes yields faster physical speeds or reactions. "Brain speed (or mental speed & acuity) includes memory, pattern recognition, enhanced sensory awareness and preparation all mixed together. Physical speed -- the kind we can see & compute -- is the manifestation of what goes on in the mind beforehand. Mental speed is not only preferable in sports, it’s essential. Physical skills aren’t enough. The faster an athlete’s mind works, the slower the game appears... this experience is often referred to as achieving a peak peformance or being in The Zone."

http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no11freaks.html

One very excellent means of developing visual/mental speed and acuity is thru the use of specially designed cognitive-development software. One such collection of software is provided by MyBrainTrainer.com. Altho' many video games may certainly help to develop some aspects of brain speed (& multitasking), the exercises employed by MyBrainTrainer.com (http://www.MyBrainTrainer.com) accomplish this in more of a focused (concentrated) & measureable format.

Some years back, there was a suite of "brain games" known as THINKfast. The MyBrainTrainer (MBT) exercises are are further, next-generation development of the THINKfast brain-training software. The cost for use of the MBT software seems very reasonable... a mere $9.95US for 4 months of training. I've also seen a couple of other such brain-training software suites. However,those are geared more toward memory development and are usually quite a bit more costly.

I also mentioned sport vision training above. There are many behavioral optometrists that specialize in this type of training. These specialists can often be found in your phone directory or on the internet. While this training is also very worthwhile, it tends to get a bit expensive for any more than a few sessions. If you can get your employer (health benefits) to pay for some of this, it would be worth a go.

Check out either the software or vision training options... it is certainly well worth the cost to develop your brain speed to enhance your badminton skill set.

[redkingjoe]

Take your game to the next level: Improve visual & brain speed

This is something that intermediate players as well as elite athletes can develop to vastly improve sports performance . Many collegiate, professional & amateur athletes (& even aging athletes) engage in sports vision training and/or use brain development software to improve reaction time, visual skills & other apsects of mental speed and acuity.

The URL below links to an excellent article on the subject of brain speed (how fast the mind puts the body in motion). Developing quicker cognitive processes yields faster physical speeds or reactions. "Brain speed (or mental speed & acuity) includes memory, pattern recognition, enhanced sensory awareness and preparation all mixed together. Physical speed -- the kind we can see & compute -- is the manifestation of what goes on in the mind beforehand. Mental speed is not only preferable in sports, it’s essential. Physical skills aren’t enough. The faster an athlete’s mind works, the slower the game appears... this experience is often referred to as achieving a peak peformance or being in The Zone."

http://espn.go.com/magazine/vol5no11freaks.html

Check out either the software or vision training options... it is certainly well worth the cost to develop your brain speed to enhance your badminton skill set.

hey gregr,
welcome back to badders.com. glad to see you posted.

this is an excellent post and the link provides another excellent article. thank you.

i study some psychology in health, exercise, neurology, education and human development. i think the article has well theoretical basis and good reference value for sports as a whole.

[bmh]

An interesting article, I already do some computer based coordination, concentration and reaction
time exercises, the software I use is:

Quake 3 Arena (currently around ~£10)
Return To Castle Wolfenstein (~£10)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (~£20)

Bernard

[redkingjoe]

An interesting article, I already do some computer based coordination, concentration and reaction
time exercises, the software I use is:

Quake 3 Arena (currently around ~£10)
Return To Castle Wolfenstein (~£10)
Unreal Tournament 2004 (~£20)

Bernard

hi Bernard,

welcome back to badders.com. glad to see you posted.

would you please tell us more about the "practical experiences"? theoretically speaking, i think that's a sound one.

[bmh]

would you please tell us more about the "practical experiences"? theoretically speaking, i think that's a sound one.

Well the software is all of the FPS (First Person Shooter) genre, which all require you to target
moving objects quickly while you are (or should be) moving yourself (to avoid being targeted).

I think the brain skills required to predict where a moving object will be in order to strike it
quickly are much the same in Badminton as in the game virtual environment.

Q3A is set in a 'fantasy' environment, and mainly involves shooting the other players before they
shoot you, though there are online team games which can be fun (particularly if you have broadband).
As an older game, most modern PC's should have sufficiently fast hardware to be playable

RtCW is "World War 2" themed game, which contains both 'all guns blazing' as well as 'stealth'
sections, again there are team online games. (A reasonably modern graphics card would be
beneficial for this game)

UT2004, has a 'future' setting, and has some more complex games and some team play objectives
without needing to be online, though is probably more demanding in terms of graphics hardware.

(Note that all of the above have a (15) or (16) rating) Some limited trial versions (one or two sections
without online play) should be available for free download.

Does it help play ? Well I'm only a basic player, but playing a few computer games before I go and play
Badminton of an evening does seem to help (this isn't a scientific evaluation as I don't have an otherwise
identical twin to compare my performance against).

Bernard

[redkingjoe]

sounds really interesting. any links for members here to try out the free download...co-twin control study...LOL

thanks

Well the software is all of the FPS (First Person Shooter) genre, which all require you to target
moving objects quickly while you are (or should be) moving yourself (to avoid being targeted).

I think the brain skills required to predict where a moving object will be in order to strike it
quickly are much the same in Badminton as in the game virtual environment.

Q3A is set in a 'fantasy' environment, and mainly involves shooting the other players before they
shoot you, though there are online team games which can be fun (particularly if you have broadband).
As an older game, most modern PC's should have sufficiently fast hardware to be playable

RtCW is "World War 2" themed game, which contains both 'all guns blazing' as well as 'stealth'
sections, again there are team online games. (A reasonably modern graphics card would be
beneficial for this game)

UT2004, has a 'future' setting, and has some more complex games and some team play objectives
without needing to be online, though is probably more demanding in terms of graphics hardware.

(Note that all of the above have a (15) or (16) rating) Some limited trial versions (one or two sections
without online play) should be available for free download.

Does it help play ? Well I'm only a basic player, but playing a few computer games before I go and play
Badminton of an evening does seem to help (this isn't a scientific evaluation as I don't have an otherwise
identical twin to compare my performance against).

Bernard

[bmh]

sounds really interesting. any links for members here to try out the free download...co-twin control study...LOL

thanks

UT2004:
http://www.unrealtournament.com/ut2004/downloads.php

RtCW
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/wolfenstein/rtcw/index.php?game_section=demo

Q3A:
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake/quake3-gold/index.php?game_section=demo

Bernard

[redkingjoe]

UT2004:
http://www.unrealtournament.com/ut2004/downloads.php

RtCW
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/wolfenstein/rtcw/index.php?game_section=demo

Q3A:
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake/quake3-gold/index.php?game_section=demo

Bernard

dear Bernard,

thank you so much...i'll try... hoping to see more posts from you...

[PeteG]

UT2004:
http://www.unrealtournament.com/ut2004/downloads.php

RtCW
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/wolfenstein/rtcw/index.php?game_section=demo

Q3A:
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake/quake3-gold/index.php?game_section=demo

Bernard


Bit of Timesplitters in there too please for good measure!!! :D Or burnout 3 if you're talking dodging objects at speed!!

[redkingjoe]

UT2004:
http://www.unrealtournament.com/ut2004/downloads.php

RtCW
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/wolfenstein/rtcw/index.php?game_section=demo

Q3A:
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake/quake3-gold/index.php?game_section=demo

Bernard

Please do not download these if you get addicted easily.

[redkingjoe]

Take your game to the next level: Improve visual & brain speed

This is something that intermediate players as well as elite athletes can develop to vastly improve sports performance . Many collegiate, professional & amateur athletes (& even aging athletes) engage in sports vision training and/or use brain development software to improve reaction time, visual skills & other apsects of mental speed and acuity.
...

Some years back, there was a suite of "brain games" known as THINKfast. The MyBrainTrainer (MBT) exercises are are further, next-generation development of the THINKfast brain-training software. The cost for use of the MBT software seems very reasonable... a mere $9.95US for 4 months of training. I've also seen a couple of other such brain-training software suites. However,those are geared more toward memory development and are usually quite a bit more costly.

Check out either the software or vision training options... it is certainly well worth the cost to develop your brain speed to enhance your badminton skill set.

my friend sent me this one. i think it might also be used to train your accuracy with speed on visual and hand co-ordination:

http://195.92.224.73/j20/content/host.asp

NOTE: play at your own risk

[gregr999]

my friend sent me this one. i think it might also be used to train your accuracy with speed on visual and hand co-ordination:

http://195.92.224.73/j20/content/host.asp

Thnx for the excellent link, red! This simple but challenging task is a great training tool.

I was rather disappointed to see this thread had degenerated into a discussion on video games. Altho' I'm not a big fan of violent, 1st-person shooter games, many of these video games can be very useful in developing some aspects of brain speed, visual skills, concentration & small muscle coordination.

However, there exists other software that does a superior job of these & other skills that could prove very useful for badminton. The software of which I speak employs ECTs, elementary cognitive tasks, to test & train various specific skills... anyway, more about that in another post.

I've got a couple of other simple yet challenging tasks along the same lines as J2O game. One of these is a German game called HomeRun. Altho' the instructions are in German, the play is very simple. Click the START button to initiate and then simply move the mouse left and right to provide course correction. (No mouse clicking is needed once you get the game started). My best score to date is 67 Meters.
Give it a try:

http://www.wagenschenke.ch

Another simple challenge is provided by Escapa! My best score on this one is 36+ seconds (I've heard a report of 63+ seconds from another player). Here are a couple of Escapa sites that should work:

http://www.iol.ie/~dluby/escape.htm

http://www.academiafitexpress.com.br/blocos.htm

[Loafer]

My brain already moves 100 times faster than my feet. althought that is more to do with my feet than my brain

[Loafer]

I've got a couple of other simple yet challenging tasks along the same lines as J2O game. One of these is a German game called HomeRun. Altho' the instructions are in German, the play is very simple. Click the START button to initiate and then simply move the mouse left and right to provide course correction. (No mouse clicking is needed once you get the game started). My best score to date is 67 Meters.
Give it a try:

http://www.wagenschenke.ch

Another simple challenge is provided by Escapa! My best score on this one is 36+ seconds (I've heard a report of 63+ seconds from another player). Here are a couple of Escapa sites that should work:

http://www.iol.ie/~dluby/escape.htm (http://www.iol.ie/%7Edluby/escape.htm)

http://www.academiafitexpress.com.br/blocos.htm
All quality games, just got to 67metres on my second go, and 12 secs on escapa.

these are damn difficult with the little nipple thing on my laptop. I HAVE to go find a mouse now.

I would agree that Burnout 3 is one of the most challenging "fast responses" games I have played.

LArry

[redkingjoe]

I was rather disappointed to see this thread had degenerated into a discussion on video games. Altho' I'm not a big fan of violent, 1st-person shooter games, many of these video games can be very useful in developing some aspects of brain speed, visual skills, concentration & small muscle coordination.


hi greg,
don't be disappointed! this thread has never been degenerated. indeed, it becomes one stone killing 2 birds at the same time...hehehe :D :D

buy one get one free: the training on concentration/coordination is the main part, the vedio game is just a bye-product or a bonus

[SIZE=2]
Give it a try:

http://www.wagenschenke.ch

Another simple challenge is provided by Escapa! My best score on this one is 36+ seconds (I've heard a report of 63+ seconds from another player). Here are a couple of Escapa sites that should work:

http://www.iol.ie/~dluby/escape.htm

http://www.academiafitexpress.com.br/blocos.htm

the above links are good for training and for fun...thanks

[gregr999]

A fairly simply video game, Gecko Shuffle, can be a great tool for challenging & developing visual tracking or smooth (visual) pursuit skills. These eye-brain skills are very important for badminton & many other sports. This game is an enhanced variation of the basic 3-card Monte.

Altho' it doesn't provide as much statistical feedback as the elementary cognitive task exercises (such as MBT) that I mentioned previously, it can still be a very useful training tool. I recommend that you try Gecko Shuffle in Single Level Shuffle mode. Try to get a perfect 20 out of 20 in the highest level possible. I've been able to get as high as level 5 or 6 with a perfect run.

You can download it for free at either of the following links:

http://www.funfilesandsmiles.com/animations/funfiles.htm
http://www.pabst.nl/downloads.htm

[redkingjoe]

Hohoho,

this one is free...train your visual speed:

(http://www.flashgamestudio.com/flash_games/flash_games.php?id=13&action=play)

[gregr999]

Thought that I'd resurrect one of my threads from 2 yrs ago to see if NE1 here has added MBT (http://www.MyBrainTrainer.com) exercises or any other visual-cognitive exercises to their badminton training regimen.