Ultra Instinct Training in Real Life

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WARNING: DRAGONBALL SUPER SPOILERS AHEAD!

If you haven’t seen DBS all the way through to the end and are waiting on the English dub release, don’t read this article!

So if you haven’t been up-and-up on the YouTube channel we’ve been going over some real life “Ultra Instinct” training occasionally.  If you’re not in the know, Ultra Instinct refers to Goku’s final form in the Dragonball Super anime series, a form defined particularly by insane speed and effortless dodging of attacks.  It’s similar to the concept of “mushin,” no-mindedness, the ability to react in combat situations without thinking.  I’ve done three videos on three different aspects of Ultra Instinct to train for, which you’ll find below.  These are definitely not the last I’ll be doing, however, so you can expect more videos in the future!

Peripheral Vision and Proprioception

Goku’s ability to detect attacks and movements at the outside edges of his senses is the first step to reacting to them.  To train this, we’re working on coordination through peripheral vision (using the very edges of your vision to detect things,) and proprioception (knowledge of your where your body is in space and in relation to itself.) To do this, we have a few drills to begin building these senses (video walkthrough above, writeup below.)

Drills:

• Two-Handed Tennis Ball Catch – Hold a tennis ball in each hand about shoulder width apart.  Throw them straight up in the air and catch them, individually, while staring straight ahead between them (don’t look directly at the balls or your hands.)
• Wide-Spaced Tennis Ball Catch – Start as above, but move your hand slowly further apart until they are at the very edge of your vision.
• Underhand Cross Wall-Ball Catch – Stand six feet away from a wall. Throw the ball underhand at the wall, and catch it overhand with your other hand.  Try to stare at the wall, rather than at the ball, using your peripheral vision to catch it.
• Underhand Single Wall-Ball Catch – Stand closer to the wall, holding a tennis ball in one (or both) hands.  Throw the ball underhand at the wall, and catch it overhand with the same hand.

Dodging and Slipping

So, detection of attacks and their distance from you in relation to your body is step one.  Actually dodging those attacks is step two!  Goku is nigh untouchable in his Ultra Instinct form.  Let’s look at a few drills we can do to start building our own avoidance mechanics!

Drills:

• Pendulum Slipping – Hang a single tennis ball at head height from a string .  Take a fighting guard, and strike the ball once to start it swinging.  Practice slipping (dodging) the ball as it swings at your head.  Strike the ball again whenever it slows down.
• Multi-Pendulum Slipping – Hang two or three tennis balls at different heights.  Get them both swinging (as above), and work on slipping between them.  Work on not focusing on a single ball, and instead using your peripheral vision.
• Multi-Pendulum Parrying – As above, but work on parrying and striking aside the tennis balls as they come in, rather than just slipping.

Punching and Kicking Faster

For the next stage of our training, we’re going to work on increasing the speed of our strikes.  Goku’s main initial problem in ultra instinct mode is effectively striking offensively, rather than just defensively avoiding attacks.  We’re going to work on countering that ourselves, with some punching and kicking speed drills.

Drills:

• Tennis Ball Drop Catch – Balance a tennis ball on the back of an outstretched, open hand.  Quickly bring your hand back to your waist, then throw it back out again, catching the tennis ball before it falls to the ground.
• Tennis Ball Punch – Throw a tennis ball up into the air, draw the same hand back to your waist or fighting guard, and then strike the tennis ball before it hits the ground.  If you’re really good, try doing it at a wall, and catch the ball as it comes back at you.
• Speed Jabs – Throw jabs at the air as fast as you can.  To increase speed, loosen your fist by sticking out your thumb and pinky.  Start slow, and increase your speed.  Jab for time, and see how many jabs you can throw in a set amount of time.  Try to increase this number.
• Speed Kicks – Same protocol as the jabs above.  Throw a kick repeatedly, trying to increase your speed. Throw kicks for time at top speed, and try to increase the number of kicks you throw in that set time.
• Balance Kicks – Same as above, but keep the leg up in the air, chambered, without putting the leg down between kicks.
• High Kicks – Kick drills, but as high as you possibly can.  While not practical in most fights, high kicks can still be useful in practice for building speed and power.  Follow the same protocol as your speed kicks above, but try to kick as high as you possible can on each kick.

Strength = Speed

In addition to the above drills, the next best thing to build speed and reaction time is good old strength training.  Making your muscles stronger makes them faster, too.  The more pounds of force your body can put behind your hands or feet, the faster they’ll move.  Similarly, the more force you can exert with your legs on the ground, the faster you will move.  There’s a reason olympic sprinters spend a ton of time in the weight room.

For developing strength for Ultra Instinct I am, of course, going to recommend The Goku Workout.  Check it out, and give it a shot.  If weights aren’t an option for you, try The Krillin Workout instead!

That’s it for our first Ultra Instinct post.  I hope you enjoyed it!  We’ll be back again on this subject in a little while, once I’ve done some more videos.  Live boldly, change the world, and continue to be awesome!

The Best Dan Wallace