How can I improve my reaction time?

To improve your reaction time there are many methods available such as light systems, catching rulers, responding to audio cues from your coach, catching balls, and using strobe glasses. These are all great methods to improve your reaction time if you have limited resources. 

One of the most important aspects of improving reaction time is having enough load on the brain to make significant lasting changes. So doing 10-20 reps of a reaction-based task is NOT going to be sufficient to make changes within the brain. Most research studies will perform cognitive tasks for 20 minutes or longer to induce high enough levels of mental fatigue. This would add up to 800 + or more repetitions!  

In the brain, skills are not refined unless we perform a huge amount of reps and usually to fatigue. If you think about your sport, that’s how you arrived where you are today, you practiced over and over for years, performing hundreds of thousands of reps over that time. Reaction time is a skill that can be trained too,  however like every other skill in the brain, we need a lot of practice to improve it. There are many ways to improve like Cognitive Training, Brain Endurance Training, Vision Training, etc.

When you need to fit in a lot of repetitions you do need to find a method that enables you to do so without cutting too much into your other training time. If you are already in a pretty serious training schedule, you also want to be able to train reaction time without too much physical exertion in order to avoid overtraining.  This will depend largely on where you are in your season and your athletic level.  

Below we will recommend tech-based and non-tech-based solutions to improve your reaction time. 

Non tech approach  

Off the Wall  

Equipment  

• Tennis ball 

Stand 3-4 meters away from the wall 

Close your eyes 

Throw the ball against the wall 

Open your eyes when you hear the ball hit the wall

Catch the ball 

Repeat for 10 minutes 

Partner Ball Catch  

Equipment 

• Tennis ball 

Have a partner stand behind you 

Have your partner throw a tennis ball over your head and catch it Repeat for 10 minutes 

Tech approach  

Tech-based solutions allow you to get thousands and thousands of repetitions in for reaction training without having to physically exert yourself if you do not want to. Tech solutions have the flexibility to be integrated into between sets of your physical training or used as standalone training sessions. Tech also gives you important data, enabling you to measure progress and see your reaction times changing and becoming more consistent over your training program.  

Soma NPT  

For athletes who want to save physical energy for their training and competition and if you prefer to have measurable progress, we suggest using Soma NPT to improve your reaction times and increase your neural capacity.  

Soma NPT is designed to increase neural capacity by inducing mental fatigue, this creates adaptations in the brain that reduce the perception of effort and allow athletes to have more mental and physical capacity. Soma NPT contains reaction training drills in various forms and has a myriad of other cognitive benefits that help athletic performance.  

Soma NPT benefits 

• Creates a larger capacity for mental and physical fatigue 
• Increases the ability to focus 
• Enables an athlete to work harder for longer 
• Reduces perception of effort 
• Increases accuracy 
• Increases mental toughness 
• Improves response speed & decision making

Soma NPT focuses on high-load cognitive training tasks to induce mental fatigue and create adaptation in the brain. You can train anytime anywhere and integrate Soma NPT easily into your training regime.  

Check out our training guide. 

https://soma-npt.ch/landing-page/images/SomaNPTTraining%20Guide.pdf