Adrenal Stress Effects

The Effects of the Adrenal Response in Combat

(1) Loss of fine Motor control : When adrenaline is flushed into the bloodstream during a "fight or flight" episode, the individual often loses a good deal of their ability to control their limbs. This is especially true of "fine motor" skills such as many martial arts techniques demand. On the other hand, gross motor skills are much better retained under adrenal stress. This is one reason why we concentrate on  programming gross motor skills into the student's body at RMCAT.

(2): Loss of Access to the "Self Aware ", Non Adrenal Mind
This maybe the hardest concept to grasp if you have never faced death or serious injury at the hands of another human being. But perhaps you have heard people who have survived an assault say things like "I don't know what happened, it all just happened so fast I just couldn't think." If  they were martial arts people perhaps they said, " I don't know what happened, or why I couldn't use my training against that guy." The reason is because it is the adrenal mind that largely controls the body in combat and not the "self aware" mind.  Thus, if you train in the adrenal state then you will be preparing yourself for that one thing you can count on in any real attack, the adrenaline rush itself! Training your combat motor skills under adrenal stress puts them into your body permanently so that it is then the adrenal stress of the "crisis incident" itself that cues up your motor responses and thus allows them to be employed effectively.

(3): Auditory Exclusion and Tunnel Vision
In many  police shooting reports one can read officers reporting something like this: "I didn't hear the shots I fired, I don't know for sure how many, all I felt was the buck of the gun in my hand as I fired" Under adrenaline the body shuts down or reduces some body functions to be able to enhance others. In general hearing can be greatly impaired under adrenal stress. Also, one's vision often tunnels into the perceived visual threat and peripheral vision can thus be greatly reduced. Armed robbery victims will tunnel into the gun or knife and thus they often report to police "it was the biggest gun I ever saw!" Until you learn to deal with these adrenal reactions you can be very vulnerable to the "MO" of criminal assailants and even just "bully types" as you may not see or hear that second assailant you are being set up for by the first one. You may not see the man reaching for his weapon in time either if you tunnel in on his barking face! Conversely if you do see these things,  then they may  just decide to pass you by as just too alert to be acceptable victim potential .

"It is the
adrenal mind that largely controls the body in combat, and not the self aware mind."

"Thus, if you train in the adrenal state, then you will prepare yourself for that one thing you can count on in any real attack, the adrenaline rush itself !"

(4): "Tachi Psychi " Effects: Some researchers place these adrenal effects in the same "box" as auditory exclusion or tunnel vision. But when applied to self defense training it is significant to distinguish between them. Tachi Psychi, is the speeding up of  both the visual processing centers and the accelerated triggering of the motor control functions. A passenger during a car accident may report " I saw the guy turn in front of us and then everything seemed to be moving in slow motion" The reason is that under adrenaline his visual processing speeded up! When you train under adrenal stress you may well develop some ability to see the sucker punch coming as if it were thrown in "slow motion". 

Effects of the Adrenal Rush  ,  Peyton's "Reality Check" monthly column  , MAGAZINE ARTICLES from Black Belt Magazine and other international publications about RMCAT's unique training