People with ADHD often are terrible at reading time in general. Whether it’s calculating how long it would take to do a task, to actually even understanding the passage of time without a tool like a watch or a clock to measure it.
We can be on the verge of being late for an appointment or work, and yet we think in five minutes we can read forty minutes worth of information or T.V.
I won’t say much about this post, but ADHD people being late often or too early is a result not even just of inattention, but a complete lack of time comprehension.
Everyone seems to have nothing bad to say about the ending.
Alright fair, it wasn’t bad. I enjoyed the last season, amazing fight scenes and some good character resolutions.
But the thing is, I feel it was a bit rushed.
My argument hinges on the fact that season 3 setup this huge potential clash between Carmella and her vampires against Isaac.
Now in the fourth season, we did see Isaac and Carmella clash.
But the impression I got was that we would see battles through the whole season leading up to a clash of Hector and Isaac or Carmella and Isaac.
Instead we see some distant conquests where those two vampire chicks take care of it. Isaac gets some character moments, and then he shows up and they fight.
Any story telling with the other vampires under Carmilla just resolves right away, they don’t seem at all disturbed she was killed. That would make sense of the characters are shown not liking her, but the woman under her seemed to admire her, like her.
Even worse was Hector. The season ended with him in bondage, his freedom stripped away. He’s a well treated slave, gets fed good food and is raped by a beautiful woman he’s attracted to. But it’s a cage, and rape is pretty terrible.
But what happens at the start of season 4? He’s having coy little flirtations with her. Not a hint of Stockholm syndrome but a genuine like for her.
I wouldn’t mind that if we had a couple of episodes of seeing his relationship progress or change since he was brutalized and enslaved.
Now there are rumours of a scandal with one of the shows producers or primary show runners, perhaps that had something to do with the way things panned out.
Also the show wasn’t renewed for a fifth season, they probably didn’t have enough episodes to tell the story they wanted.
Then again, who cares? Everyone seemed to love the ending.
Rethinking how we conceiver of mindset in self defense.
I’m reading the second book written by Maija Soderholm. She is associated with Rory Miller and his group of people among self-defense and martial arts circles.
Thing is a very common talking point in self defense circles is attack first, attack hard before they do it to you. Then when caught in shit, don’t give up, have an unbeatable mind.
What is interesting about Maija’s book is that yes, she does talk about and advocate unyielding force and will power, to be a predator that ambushes someone who attacks you.
But she asks the question: What if I attack hard, attack first, but he weathers it? And what if I have a strong willpower and I never give up, but his will is stronger? What do I do?
Her strategy largely is about learning to fight in a way that is dynamic and realistic but with a focus on minimizing damage, because your willpower can’t resurrect a broken body. Someone with inferior willpower may have a bigger body that simply can take more damage than your own, or their will and body is greater.
So what do you do?
You make sure no matter the scenario you avoid damage in the middle of a fight, and your think more dynamically, learn to read the person in front of you. If they have a strong will, that doesn’t mean they aren’t predictable. The flexible mind can be greater than the strong mind.
What’s ironic is the very argument that tells the reader to make the mind more flexible rather than strong is actually making it easier to have a strong mind, a mind that doesn’t give up. Because if you are attacked, or you feel a threat and you pre-emptively attack, you can stay calm and keep fighting because you may never stop thinking or problem solving.
Because if you experience anything, whether conflict or life and death, if your first instinct to always be unpredictable and figure things out in your training or natural instinct, your not surrendering. Your active, your making decisions.
Someone who has a weak mind may find a way to have an attack mindset.
On a similar but seperate point, her strategy on how to think when “Strike hard, strike before they do, be a predator,” fails against a superior predator, applies to her sense of awareness and danger management, prevention.
Because frankly, if you get jumped or you have to jump someone before they jump you, you’ve already failed on many levels in self defense.
The proble solving mindset, what she calls the “Hustler” is constantly reading people, constantly figuring out how they think, how they tick. What culture and what made them who they are.
Thus scenarios even anti-social or dangerious situations someone finds them in is constantly being analyzed, read, and if you’re smart something always trained for.
The result is a constant state of awareness without any effort, it’s a default way of being. Very hard to really screw up in get in the wrong place at the wrong time, and when you are, you recognize it’s the wrong place and the wrong time, and you act decisively. Either you become the predator, or things grow wrong and you hustle the predator. But your always hustling, always figuring things out, always problem solving.
Always READING people and situations.
Because the hustler reads. Maija’s books, including the one on fighting techniques is heavily about reading.
The First book: Filipino martial arts is about accepting gifts, and Maija’s style is no different for sword play. But she always gives false gifts or puts the in places people don’t think about, while she is adept in making sure she never accepts a false gift, she reads her opponent well, only taking the gifts that are real in a context of violence where misdirection by attackers is common. Training is about problem solving and awareness. Through reading. Have I used the word reading enough yet?
The second book is also about reading, but not attacks or evil intent before an attack, but is about reading the environment and the people. The entire world view, the examination of the different styles of violence and how to think of them, the motivations for them. It especially talks about violence holistically. The predator mindset it a part of self-defense circles, but she says it’s only a piece of violence. A very big piece, one of the most effective, but a piece.
This has turned a little bit into a rant. I’ll come back and edit this again.
But Maija’s books are worth reading for anyone interested in strategy, cunning and self defense.
I’d close off in saying that some people would say “PROBLEM SOLVING IN SELF DEFENSE? YOU DON’T HAVE TIME TO THINK!”
Yes you don’t often have time to think, but you can think and problem solve during training, and you can develop instincts to be dynamic and unpredictable during danger. You can walk around the world being aware without even trying to be aware, without paranoia. Because your always seeing things as they are, or trying to at least.
Maija and many other people say those that are ‘violence professionals’ have a switch. Some people have to build up to violence, a slow burn. But the best could go ‘dark’ in an instant. Part of that is the dynamic mindset, to recognize a threat right away, to understand it as a solution to a problem.
I don’t get the impression Maija is at all against a predator mindset, to ambush and overwhelm with numbers and pressure, tactices.
SHe’s simply saying sometimes the person your dealing with is a better predator.
She simply says human beings have beaten the shit out of predators meaner and more sneaky than us, because we’re more aware, and we’re more crafty.
Lions, Bears and any other animals will keep fighting until they are dead. Many of them have hunted and stalked people, ambushed human beings. But they were on the endangered list, because of us. It’s by our whim they made a come back, no matter how strong their will to survive and fight. We won because we understand them better. We don’t even get in the position where they can sneak up on us and hunt us, because they are predictable.
But from an animals perspective, humans are very unpredictable. They can’t read us.
But we have entire books on their behavior and habits, even their eccentricities.
They often have stronger wills to survive than us. Predators are kings at mindset. But we have the more flexible minds.
It’s no real secret that people with ADHD and Autism have sensory issues. Often a quick google search reveals that lights, sounds, fabrics and sensations will drive many people with many conditions crazy with how sensitive they are. Or it’s the opposite, people will have dull, delayed responses, even not reacting to sensations indicating harm.
All of this is well discussed.
What is not talked about regarding sensory issues is much of it is internal. Over sensitivity or under sensitivity can influence your behavior when something internally is being stimulated or under stimulated. One reason ADHD people will shuffle feet, bite nails, scratch or do little ticks of their head is to get internal stimulation of the brain and body, to try and return to a homeostasis that never happens.
I personally do lots of weird stimming behavior. I used to bite my nails, but now I scratch my head instead, I have ticks, my legs are always moving, I have to have something in my hands sometimes or move my feet.
I don’t have personal experience with Autism, but from what I understand many will do stimming behavior to block out many sensations or to generate one to mentally dissociate.
There is a great deal of behaviour among neuro a-typical people that is dealing with some sort of internal perception or desire for perception.
I had always learned that ADHD brains lack certain natural chemicals in the brain, mostly stimulating ones like dopamine or serotonin that most people have at higher levels, and therefore they respond with constantly looking for something to put attention ont hat stimulates them, ignoring things that are not stimulating despite a very real need to.
But I’ve never seen a secondary reason for ADHDs to seek stimulation, that they simply don’t feel it or need some kind of medium for it on something inside.
This is all fascinating to me largely because senses are how we perceive the world, it’s how we experience reality, it’s how we even know things are real. We learn of things our senses don’t measure by creating equipment that helps our senses perceive them. They are everything.
And yet there are entire segments of the human population that senses things different from everyone else, and within that subsection of humanity there are even more differences.
Usually our issues with the senses causes trauma. But what if it’s why so many of us have such unique and creative perspectives on things no one else has?
You know the stereotype in martial arts, the MMA world had it back before Karate regained respect by representing in the cage.
Don’t know it? Think of a fat out of shape white guy in a karate gi and a black belt teaching people to fight. The joke is they can’t fight or shouldn’t be teaching.
Now one of my best martial arts teachers was an overweight Uechi-Ryu karate teacher. He lost his weight now, but back then he was heavy.
Thing is, he was a pretty tough guy, he was then, he is now. A tough guy and a good teacher, a brilliant creative mind on martial arts. I learned plenty.
Needless to say, I learned quickly that the physical condition your coach or sensei is in doesn’t have any bearing on how much they can benefit you. I used to tease him about his weight, once I even offended him and felt bad. But the thing is, the teasing is mostly just at the idea of the meme of the fat karate guy and less a judgement.
Boxing coaches are often not expected to be in the same shape or condition as fighters, there are plenty of boxing coaches that are fat or overly injured with age. Yet no one questions their ability to coach a fighter, no one expects them to have the strength and athleticism of a fighter. Yet he is respected as coach.
Javier Mendes is the head coach of American Kickboxing academy. Ironically named since it was well known for it’s wrestlers. Javier helped train Khabib(Yes that Khabib) Cain Valasquez, Luke Rockhold, Daniel Cormier and many others.
How does he look like?
Javier is a chubby guy now. When he was young he wasn’t, he was a competitive kickboxer. But as a coach he isn’t athletic or built like an athlete. And yet he is one of the best coaches in the business.
Speaking of Khabib, how did his dad look before he passed away?
He became heavier than this picture as well. Yet well past his physical prime, he coached some of the best fighters in Russia.
So why is it okay in Boxing, Wrestling and MMA that the teachers and coaches are not expected to be able to kick the crap out of their students or jacked professional athletes, but in BJJ, Kung-Fu, Karate there is this expectation an old man with a bent back or someone who is overweight must be able to defeat jacked experienced students?
Like I said, even when he was over weight, my karate teacher could wreck most martial artists, yes even young fit guys who did MMA. I’m sure if my karate teacher was jacked and fit he would do even better.
But what is almost more important to remember is, even if he wasn’t able to fight after gaining weight, how in any way would that have made him less effective in making me the martial artist I am today and many others?
My karate teacher both before and after losing weight has astounded gym owners with his knowledge of body mechanics, combat, and the sheer insane genius of his ideas.
And then there is me.
I took an angle shot because my belly is round and funny looking, and I now have a double chin.
The irony is, I’m a much better fighter now at 215 chubby than I was when I was 180 and husky. I’m more skilled, my timing is better, even my footwork is a great deal better. Even when I was 150 pounds I used small subtle footwork that only astute observers noticed I moved. That continued when I was 180 pounds of muscle. But now at 215 I can bounce around like a sport karate guy, I can do my dynamic movement and fake athleticism, when it’s really intelligent use of my body.
But yes I have shitty cardio and some actions are hard on my joints now, so I don’t do them like penetration steps like shooting for double legs.
That said, if I lost weight and trained like an athlete I would be better.
But my KNOWLEDGE and my base of instruction has absolutely no bearing on my fitness.
And if you go to learn martial arts from a school or gym, don’t judge the quality of the school on the fitness of the teacher.
I totally understand why there are safety rules in combat sports. Hitting to the back of the head can fucking kill people, you don’t want to play games with that. In old school Japanese MMA you can soccer kick and stomp, but it only really worked on people who were exhausted already, it’s not good for anyone to allow that.
Boxing is a striking sport, it makes sense there are no kicks or take downs(Though why ban hammer fists?)
BJJ is a grappling art, it’s clear why there are no strikes. I do like the fact slams are banned in BJJ, despite the fact banning strikes leads to pulling guard and banning slams leads to jumping guard due to people doing sports specific unrealistic shit to win matches(Maybe penalize guard pulling and jumping, then slamming being banned doesn’t kill the realism of the art)
But why the hell are headbutts illegal?
Everyone talks about how Burmese boxing or Lethwei or however you spell it as being badass, that it is brutal because of head butts.
Nope. That’s not why it’s brutal.
Burmese boxing is brutal because you don’t win after knocking a dude out, you have to knock them out three more times. That’s not good for anyone who wants a working brains into a ripe old age. It’s that which makes the art brutal, not the head butts.
Muay thai allows elbows which cut and knock people out. What do headbutts do? THey open cuts and knock people out. A referee can easily check that.
Punches causes more brain damage than head butts do. Yet no one ever wants to ban punches to the head in most combat sports or kicks to the head. All that cause brain damage.
But head butts look bad, there is a cultural association it’s dirty. But does the scientific evidence back up that it causes more long term damage than any other strike? I don’t see such data. Yes maybe it hasn’t been studied. But a concussion is a concussion no matter what causes it, a cut is a cut. It’s not worse than anything else.
In this moving image above, why is that worse for someone’s health than any other strike?
Maybe Muay Thai should be more like Burmese boxing in it’s ruleset. Muay Thai is already fun to watch, it would be even more enjoyable with head butts.
Hell at the very least, Muay Thai can be enjoyed without supporting a genocide and ethnic cleansing.
Same with MMA. Why not?
One arguement I heard is it causes trauma to the brain and neck. However, I don’t know how valid this is, because I was in two tournaments where headbutts were allowed, and I targetted the face and side of the head. I was taught to lock my neck and drive with the legs instead of swaying the body. I did not feel much trauma to my neck or brain, but the other guy went flying.
(We had those Daido-Juku space helmets on, so no cuts are anything bloody)
Guys man this shit is great for head butts without cuts.
Sam of the SOUTHPAW PODCAST gave a marxist analysis on why it’s banned in MMA. Money ruins everything I guess.
“
“Im gonna give you the nonstandard Marxist (and more accurate reason) why headbutts are illegal in unified MMA. Money.Headbutts was a way to disincentivize wrestling. Coleman said it ruined his UFC career at the time it was passed and all the wrestlers voiced their opposition to that rule. Headbutts also cause a lot of cuts. UFC was already allowing elbows, which in hindsight, UFC would probably like to get rid of. This is why as relaxed as Pride was, they didnt allow elbows. For UFC, they had enough data where they saw headbutts caused more cuts than elbows so they decided to get rid of one and not both. This was the start of the stand and bang chuck liddell era.The reason for all of this was to make the sport attractive for PPVs and TV. Not only for aesthetics but a Tyson KO in 10 seconds still gets ppl hyped. 10 second fight that ends due to cut, well you saw how ppl reacted to masvidal diaz. Ppl demanded their ppv money back.The other aspect is gambling. All sports benefit from ppl who just watch to gamble but combat sports might be more so than the rest. Since its combat sports, gamblers accept KOs are part of the game and in fact bet on KOs. Gamblers however get livid when it ends on a cut. It would make gambling far less attractive. I am sure this also goes for MT.Banning headbutts was purely financial and has nothing to do with safety. Dont bother asking about elbows because the UFC wishes the could go back in time and ban those as well.”
Yep I agree Sam. Betting and shitty shitty stupid as fuck fans are a big reason it’s banned.
Buuuuuut I am not a doctor or researcher. So perhaps there is a reason headbutts are very bad for the attacker and defender that I don’t know about.
Look I get it, it sucks to see two boxers hug each other with nothing happening. But the clinch can still be broken up when there is no action. But if someone is smashing their opponent with the clinch, by break it up? Maybe it looks dirty but it’s still entertaining.
Hell if it were up to me, I would get the ref to break clinches that are over under and stall, but not neck tie, single underhook or over hooks to feed shots. Double limbs tied up should be the only time a clinch is broken.
LOL what a cheater
Jack Slack did a breakdown of Jack Johnson. Despite being known for his ‘gentleman’ style of boxing, he actually was pretty gnarly in the clinch. Those days boxing gloves had thumbs separated so it was easier to grab. Some people found it boring, but again it was when both hands were tied up on both opponents to prevent any striking rather than one limb. If that rule had been enforced it would have been active.
Notice that because each had a hand free, there was still action?
That’s it. That’s my point. Allow clinching with one limb only in boxing, and it develops more dynamic fighting skill for the art, and it makes boxing matches have another dynamic, another skillset that can develop.
Just like a similar question I asked earlier with rejection sensitive Dysphoria, whether the emotional sensitivity is innate or a consequence of ADHD symptoms influencing our lives.
Often those with ADHD are comorbid with other conditions. I was diagnosed with a very mild case of bi polar after having severe ADHD for years. Though not an official diagnosis, my psychiatrist also thinks I’m slightly on the autistic spectrum, though I am missing autisms attention for detail, but I have many uncommon ADHD symptoms that are mostly found in autism, such as how I stim and how I read social situations, how I process being overwhelmed with things, how I dissociate.
Thing is though maybe the autism was innate(My older brother is severely autistic) but I don’t know about my mood disorder. The reason I say this is I know a guy with ADHD that is filled with anxiety and depression. But his entire childhood was getting beat on by his parents for being lazy and a failure, and now he has other problems.
Many people with otherwise kind parents develop anxiety, because people are unforgiving when you BEHAVE as if you don’t care and are lazy, but in truth your trying as hard as possible to stay engaged even though your brain won’t let you, but no one sees that. No one sees that and your trying, they just see someone that is lazy and doesn’t care. And then you become conscious of what people think, that you’ll screw up, and the anxiety becomes a conditioned response.
And it doesn’t matter if that’s now what your real internal motivation is, we’re socially conditioned to judge internal states by external behavior. Lisa Feldman Barret’s research shows body language can be vastly different from person to person regarding the same emotion inside them, but that is not what most people perceive it to be. So no matter what the truth is, you’re going to be judged harshly.
Things that would never leave most regular people traumatized will give a minor sort of PTSD to many people with ADHD, since Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria makes us emotionally sensitive. That’s why so many people with ADHD can have hair trigger tempers, because their nervous system perceives some mundane shit as trauma when it’s just a bad day for everyone else. It sucks.
But again, maybe even if our daily experience primes us for other mental health issues, we could also be wired that way.
It could be both, that life throws shit at us that would make us mental, but also we were always a little mental anyway.
Insomnia is a pretty big problem among those with ADHD, as a result melatonin and sleeping pills is common among us.
Unfortunately the response often is “It doesn’t work” or “It works too well.”
I’ve gone through a whole slew of sleeping pills and most of them didn’t work. All but one: Tryptophan.
Tryptophan is the stuff in Turkey that makes you sleepy, it also occurs naturally in the body like Melatonin.
Unlike Melatonin however, you don’t have nightmares and you don’t wake up groggy in the morning.
The only problem is one or two tryptophan pills won’t work, you need to take atleast 4. I personally take 6 to 8.
The good thing is because it’s non-toxic(Unless your pregnant and breast feeding) you can take as much as you need. It’s like eating a whole bunch of turkey or meat.
What's the deal with Adeel? 