Any training technique to Prevent Adrenaline dump?

The other day I was at the park with my wife and 2 year old son and there were a couple of teenage boys who were rough housing each other. They got too close to my wife and she started yelling at them...of course I stepped in.

I kinda told the boys to knock it off when the big brother showed up...

Now here I am ready to do what ever necessary to defend my wife and son of course and there it comes....the all to familiar adrenaline dump. My system flooded with so much adrenaline that I can hardly breathe right, my heart is pounding and my arms feel weak.

The situation ended in a civilized manner, the older brother stepped down and agreed to do a better job of keeping an eye on the others.

As we left the park I thought...what if I had to fight? I've only been in one situation where I actually used martial arts in a street fight and that was years ago (I had other street fighting experience but that was before I started training in MA). I remember feeling that same adrenaline dump and feeling weak in my arms but when a guy sucker punched my friend I found all my training kicked in and I was effective in bringing the situation to a close very quickly.

I know that there are techniques in martial arts that stem from the methods that Samurai used to use to still their minds before a battle. But are there any techniques that would prepare me if I was ever in an unexpected situation like that again, that would help prevent an adrenaline dump that feels like I can hardly breathe and my arms are weak?

 

You need to encounter the arenaline dump more to get used to it I think. Nothing can stop it but you can learn to deal with it and maybe minamise it (Not sure on the second point).

 

out of interest what kind of sparring do you do?

You cant get rid of an adrenalin rush, nor would you want to. but you can learn to control the adrenalin through experiencing it (obviously you wont experience it in training to the level you would i na fight though)

 

Sparing is free sparing in the method of Tang Soo Do and TKD. Do you think if I went with some full contact training it might help?

 

thats what i was getting at. at least, it helped me, and most people I know who have taken a full contact martial art and been in that kind of situation.

 

I found that meditation has helped me control the adrenalin dump and other emotions under situations as mentioned.

I think it comes down to knowing yourself well enough to know when certain physical/mental reactions begin to happen, and then being able to control it and put it to your own use.

 

Echoing the advice given, there is no real way to willingly stop an adrenal dump. The more used to a situation you are the less impact a dump will have (and perhaps the smaller the dump). However, when suprised a dump will occur. We're hard wired to do this. Basically any time you feel "honest" danger, your body will dump.

What you can do is work to simulate dumps in training so you can become used to the effects on your body.

But perhaps the most effective method for dealing with a dump is to be aware. The sooner you realize that you are in a situation that may cause a dump, the more you can begin to prep your body for the effects. It is all about managing transitions.

- Matt

 

That along the lines that I suspected. Meditation / breathing exercises and getting in the ring finally. I have some dental work to do before I can get in the ring but I have definitely made that a goal...I don't think I go with Muay Tai but probably kickboxing.

 

Thats an awful lot of dumping there Matt

But true, just get used to it. So keep putting yourself in those scary situations!

 

I usually get Adrenaline dumps when im nervous. I figure confidence could be a possible countermeasure. Maybe i'm wrong tho. Probably lol

 

I think you're right. The adrenaline dump could be minimized with confidence and that confidence comes with preparation. It's like when I was in acting and playing music before an audience, I would get an adrenaline dump before performing but after a while I learned to embrace it. I need more experience with full contact fighting.

 

Yeah me too. Train with the Black Belts at your school- but you gotta approach one that would be interested in helping you, not just walloping you.

 

As some others have posted... you can't stop the adrenalin dump... nor can you stop your adrenalin stress response. You wouldn't want to... it's part of your instincts as an animal that help to keep you alive.

You can however deal with it repeatedly so that you can learn how to repsond to your own signature adrenalin stress response.

Everybody has one and everyones differs. The common symptoms are:

1) narrowing of vision

2) loss or reduction of hearing

3) increased heart rate

4) tightening of muscles (the frozen feeling or lead legs feeling)

There has been lots and lots of research into adrenalin stress responses by different police departments over the years. The military as well, but it's a lot harder to find any current studies done by the military. A brief summary of what I've read over has to do with training yourself to respond according the threat. You have to remain aware that you are in adrenalin stress and modify your response.

For instance police officers are often taught to continually scan their field of vision during a conflict. Under adrenalin stress it's all to easy to get tunnel vision and get attacked from the side. I've seen many a sucker punch happen this way.

Having worked on an ambulance and in different emergency rooms my first adrenalin response for ages was the motion of reaching for my trauma shears.
After fighting competitively that's slowly been replaced by getting a boxer stance and ready to unleash a combination of punches and kicks... or ready to sprawl if someone attempts a big mauling takedown. Muslce memory is what kicks into action.... that's why it's so important to adrenalin test your MA.

I found that adjusting my attitude to some kind of fatalism helped me deal with the adrenalin. Something along the lines of 'This is going to happen anyhow so let's get down to it'... treating it like a foregone conclusion that a situation was going to go pear shaped help me to just get to work dealing with the reality of it.

Aggression is another influencing factor. You have to mentally set yourself on a course in your mind that you are there to complete a 'job' and that it will be completed with overwhelming agression. Violence of action it's sometimes called.

It takes lots of training. It's a fine line between knowing when to flip the switch and operate like that and when to be more diplomatic. Command presence as it's called will help defuse many situations - you have to show that your not going to allow a situation to get out of hand. It takes a long time to refine this and it takes skills to be aple to put down a situation that does start to rise up... but in the end it could save your life.

I suggest you go for start out with some sparring and look into what kinds of full contact MA's you can feel out... something to help you get your head around it.

Reading up as much as possible on the subject will help you to get intellectually around it.

 

Slipthejab...good stuff. Helpful. Thanks for the post.

 

Jeeze slipjab were you a cop or marine at some point? You seem to know a LOT about thier research- i dont expect that kind of stuff is posted on the internet exactly...

 

Ok this may be weird to you
but it really helped me in tournaments
One of my trainer told me about it.
Try Resque remedy it a combination of flower essenses.
Look it up, it helps to handle acute stressor

 

The internal boxer must learn to fight without letting his adrenal glands fire. This begins by learning to spar with diaphramic continuous breathing and relaxed muscles. Then the internal fighter must learn to relax his emotions while sparring. Finally, he must learn to feel his adrenal and be especially careful not to tense anything near them while sparring.

http://www.metal-tiger.com/adrenaline.html

 

bollocks. and I really fail to see WHY you wouldnt want an adrenalin rush. we have it for a reason.

 

The cure-all antidote for a Adrenaline Dump:
Get ****ed.
Think of all the unjust crap you've been through, all the people that push you around. You could even use yourself as a source for that anger. Dimish yourself in your own eyes, then get angry at yourself for being so weak.
When you feel a dump coming on, turn it into a rush. Get so ****ed off that you could take anybody's head off with a hook punch, then go into that fight and just blast your opponent into oblivion with your rage, and don't be afraid to give a good kiai or two- they help increase the ferocity.

Just be careful, because most martial artists today can't deal with this kind of strategy, however if you meet a really good fighter, they'll lay you out in one second flat. But i think anybody that good wouldn't be the one starting ****.

 

Slip,

Great stuff as always. If you also get involved with a GOOD (and I'll stress good again) RBSD like Blauer's SPEAR system you can find out more about adrenal dumps than you want to know. Slip's given you a great start.

My opinion: research, read and practice. Personally I hold little hope that meditation will help very much in these situations.

- Matt