Keeping Your Cool: The Fight Against Adrenaline

[rbane3]

Serious question, and I hope that this is on topic in "Tactics and Training," what kinds of practice, exercises, etc do you recommend for adapting your body to the adrenaline rush that comes with conflict? Do others find it nearly as debilitating as I?

Last night, I was in a confrontation that could have gotten physical. I haven't been in a fight in years! The gentleman in question was extremely aggressive, possibly inebriated, and very verbal. Ancient fight or flight reflexes kicked in; I felt my body heat up with adrenaline with all the negative effects. My mind was muddled, disconnected. My speech was nowhere near eloquent. Luckily, I was able to extricate myself from the situation without any actual conflict. But it got me to thinking.. Had I needed to defend myself, or god forbid draw my weapon to protect myself, I would be relying solely on muscle memory.

It's important to train actions into muscle memory. I get it. But do you train yourself to handle adrenaline. Or is that possible?

 

[iChokePeople]

This will be a great topic.

 

[rbane3]

This will be a great topic.

If this is a stupid or controversial question I apologize. I wasn't intentionally trolling.

 

[Cameramonkey]

If this is a stupid or controversial question I apologize. I wasn't intentionally trolling.

No worries, I dont think that Choke was being sarcastic. If he was it was probably directed at downstream derp that is likely to follow later. Great question IMHO.

 

[EyeCarry]

Yup, good question.
I know that almost two years ago, after being ran over by a three wheeled motorcycle, the adrenaline that had been pumped through my body had me worn out for DAYS.
In this case, time slowed, clarity focused, decisions were instantaneous but thought out (almost seen). The "event" was over in seconds but the effects were long lasting.
I don't know how this would apply in a fighting situation but I can tell you that I was fighting for my life.

 

[Yojimbo229]

I've never been in a gun fight.

Dave Grossman talks about "stress inoculation" a lot in his work. It's not easy to realistically train for a gun fight (Cpt.Obvious alert) but maybe paint ball, airsoft or Simunition training can get us close.
He says much of the stress is from the disbelief a civilized person has when a species-mate intends him harm; the unfamiliarity with the process/possibility of human violence.
A really inadequate summation would be to train as realistically as possible, learn relaxation-breathing, know you're just/under legal authority, the SOB stops right here, right now ...and resolve to get your fanny home no matter what damage you take.

I think from my "hands on" training I can only say- believe it can happen, believe today may be the day, vow to prevail.

Judo, jiu-jitsu isn't life and death but when a certain attack on the mats comes, if you've trained, you've "been here before" and can respond rather than react or simply fold or spaz under paralysis.
A noob reacts to the aggressive, trained opponent with very little skill, flails, breathes unskillfully and wears himself out (assuming the trained one doesn't just end it early as would be easy).

Personally, when doing whatever I'm doing (mall, parking lot, raking, buckling kids in....) I picture "what if."
What side of me are the kids on- holster side? Maybe not a good position.
Am I too loaded w/ grocery bags? Can I drop them or did I tangle up my right hand?
A lot of "what ifs" in every scenario.

That's probably no help, but I just try to picture my available responses so I'm not reacting on the fly.

The handful of times I've done video-simulations (some with live fire, some with real pistols outfitted with CO2 and lasers), it was eye-opening. They're amazing; 100s of scenarios and one was controlled by the range so even the same set up can unfold differently every time. The guys can really mess with you so you aren't war gaming the scenario!
I guess these video-simulations are a way of going back to that "oh, guy rushing up the stairs with something in his hand? I've been here before."

Awesome discussion topic.

 

[jd4320t]

Most of us have no idea what it'll actually be like. Maybe some LEO's and Combat Vets who've been there will chime in.

 

[chezuki]

Most of us have no idea what it'll actually be like. Maybe some LEO's and Combat Vets who've been there will chime in.

I don't think he's talking necessarily about a fire fight...

 

[AngryRooster]

May want to look at mindset lab. They have a sub forum here:
Mindset Laboratory


And a website here:
http://mindsetlab.com/main/



I haven't been but it's on the list of things in the next year or so.

 

[iChokePeople]

No sarcasm intended. I'm interested in the discussion.

 

[jblomenberg16]

Everyone reacts differently, but allow me to make some GROSS generalizations base on personal observations, including my own that includes some extremely stressful situations, up to and including a serious car accident and an active workplace shooter. So...no first hand combat or LEO info her just to be clear.

But from what I have seen, I would generally categorize the response to adrenaline, in 2, maybe 3 ways.

1) Things speed up, get muddy, and the body goes into an "overload" situation where it can't react to the external stimuli and starts to just freeze up.
2) No real impact...at least not until after the adrenaline wears off and then there is that "holy crap" moment where finally it hits the person that it was just a pretty serious situations.
3) Things slow down, become extremely clear, and suddenly time slows down, decisions are easy to make and are almost subconscious.


I don't think there is a right or wrong on those, but I think the biggest thing is to "know thyself." We've all be through lots of pretty stressful situations from all sorts of angles. 2 outs, bottom of the 9th inning in Little League. Having to make a free throw with .1 seconds on the clock. Asking a person on a date, getting married, having a child, auto accident, fist fight, combat, significant life or death moment, etc.

I think most of us by the time we are adults know how we're going to react to stress. I don't think you can train yourself to be able to work through the adrenaline dump as much as you learn how to deal with it.

Personally, I'd say I'm between 2 and 3 on my list above. I certainly get some of the immediate effects of rapid pulse and breathing, but have seen that generally time slows down for me, and things become almost "obvious" in terms of decisions making. I'll almost completely block out everything else and have super sensitivity of sight and sound but in a very limited area of focus, usually pretty much in my immediate surroundings. Perhaps its almost like the "zone" that we hear about with athletes. But for me it comes at a price....about 30 minutes after the stimulus, I get the shakes, the nausea, the cotton moth, the mind racing, etc.

I know folks that on the first sign of stress completely freeze and lock up, even having panic attacks. Others act like nothing happened at all and then have the casual "wow that was kind of a big deal, wasn't it?" moment.

So my advice is to learn from this one and see how you reacted physiologically. If you froze up or immediately go the shakes, then you need to plan for that. If time slowed down and your focus got sharper, plan for that too, but recognize you may get tunnel vision and not see things outside of the immediate situation.

 

[Bigtanker]

Muscle memory is a major thing. I had a near miss driving my tanker last week. Guy was hauling a load of cut firewood in a trailer behind his pickup. The trailer got squirrely and he lost about 60 or so pieces of wood on the interstate. Our on board camara caught this and when I reviewed it with my boss, I had dropped 3 gears (one double down from 10th to 8th then a single to 7th) and checked my mirrors for an out and I didn't even remember it. I was able to maneuver my 130,000 pounds to the left, safetly, and avoid everything.

I was very interested in seeing how I reacted as I could not recall what I did.

Had this been a self defense situation, Im not sure how I would react but I do practice draws. Not as much as I think I need though. Hopefully I never find out.

 

[Selfpreservation]

"But do you train yourself to handle adrenaline. Or is that possible?"

I have found one of the best ways to do that, at least for males, is to make them risk being embarrassed if they don't perform well. Make it a competition, in front of other males. Also, go compete in front of a crowd you don't know. Can be shooting, mma, jits, boxing, whatever you want. But getting used to performing under pressure helps when the adrenaline kicks in during a confrontation.

 

[VUPDblue]

For me, it comes with repeatedly performing in a given stressful situation and getting better each time. The first car chase I ever kicked up was a disaster. I ended up in a creek in the ghetto, no idea where I was, address wise, my driving sucked, my radio traffic sucked, and the bad guy got away. I remember the start and the end, but not much in the middle, and I slept hard after that, once I came down. There have been several chases since then, and the last one was a doozy, but I recall every second. I was able to push my CVPI as hard as it's capable of handling, and chased down a hemi Charger until it gave up the ghost due to too much damage. Others have said my radio traffic was spot-on and I never once felt like I was in any kind of oodaloop. I have a similar example that deals with responding to a victim of violent trauma, my first time was a mess, but now I feel like I have the skills and knowledge to do it without absolutely freaking out and ending up with shaking hands. I have found that for me, stress inoculation is task-specific. If I don't want to find myself the victim of adrenaline in a particular situation, then I feel like I should train for that situation more. FOF is a good one for me with gunfighting. I KNOW those SIM rounds won't kill me but they get the point across just enough to keep it real...for me. YMMV, but I suggest maybe training for specific areas to get more comfortable with each.

 

[jve153]

Paintball. Imo. Teaches reaction under stress, simulated gunfight with unrealistic weapons. Shooting from uncomfortable positions. Moving from cover, to cover, situational awareness, and adrenaline response. Have yet to try out mindset labs, i need to, i know.

 

[rhino]

Years ago, Mas Ayoob reported doing some training/evaluation with some students after being injected with a little epinephrine.

My opinion is that how well you can learn to manage extreme stress varies considerably from person to person. How quickly your body dumps epinephrine and gets you into fight or flight mode varies. Some people get it immediately, some can make it happen to themselves, some don't experience it (that they know), and some people spend a significant amount of time chasing it because they enjoy the feeling.

In my experience, I've never had significant symptoms of that surge of epinephrine during a stressful situation in real life, whether it was a car wreck, recognizing someone needed immediate first aid and providing it, exams in school, or the few situations when I believed I was going to need my gun to protect myself. I have felt it afterward a few times, though. I don't know if that's because I'm ignoring it while the stress is ongoing I just don't perceive the symptoms until after.

By contrast, I've definitely felt it in training, especially during force on force. In a couple of scenarios (where I was briefed afterward that I did really well), I had very little memory of what had happened until hours later. Those occasions were unsettling to not have full awareness, but apparently be able to take positive actions to minimize injury to myself. I tend to immerse myself as fully as possible in scenario training, so perhaps my brain is realizing a greater level of danger under those circumstances than my conscious mind allows when I'm just out and about and get surprised by something.

 

[GIJEW]

Good question and good thread.

my two cents: physical stress (elevated blood pressure, breathing, etc) and emotional/psychological stress clearly aren't the same thing even though symptoms of physical stress accompany psychological stress.

So, going to gym can help but dealing with psychological stress requires believing in your ability to cope, survive, and better yet--win.

Having reason to believe you can is the key:
Train until skills become conditioned reflexes
FOF will provide practice&experience dealing with a thinking adversary and "keep it real". It's also "innoculation" ("I've done this before, I can do this")
make general contingency plans and visualize yourself winning. I think the importance of this goes beyond planning--because those always require improvised plans D Q and Z--but in deciding on using force and not second guessing yourself when you need to act.

 

[rbane3]

All really great, and varied, input guys. I'm glad this thread turned out to be helpful and stimulate a lively discussion. I'll definitely have to look into FOF training and Mindset Labs. My personal experiences are as wide ranging as the spectrum allows. I've definitely had adrenaline 'blackouts', but I've experienced the slowed down, frame by frame ultrareality described by some in the thread.

Something said much earlier rang very true to this specific situation.. disbelief that a species-mate intended me harm. I guess it's the psychological version of getting "soft around the middle." I don't live in that world anymore. I'm not in the Army anymore, I'm no longer a bouncer at a dive bar attending college. I'm a thirty-something father of two who isn't exposed to the dredges often. "It could never happen to me..." until it does. I'm glad my eyes were opened to the need to train for that.

 

[spencer rifle]

Some of it is genetic or related to personality. I remember reading of accounts by submarine sailors during WWII. There were always some crew members who were "plodders" - they just kept mosying on at their own pace and were nearly impossible to hurry. When the sub was getting pounded with depth charges, leaks springing everywhere, glass shattering, and most of the crew biting their fingers off, the mosyers just kept mosying, repairing damage, fixing leaks, and generally being calm. As irritating as they were during routine operations, they were essential during stressful times.

 

[hammerd13]

Best advice I can give is to first read "On Combat" by Dave Grossman. He covers this in great detail. Generally speaking, what you experienced is very normal...but there are ways to help your body/mind deal with it (if you prepare).

The best way to prepare yourself to deal with these situations (in my opinion) is repetitive training in skills that will help you through, as well as REALISTIC force-on-force practice. This training can/should include avoiding the situation altogether, diffusing the situation, situational awareness, issuing verbal commands coherently, grappling skills (BJJ, judo, wrestling, etc.), striking skills (boxing, muay thai, Krav Maga, etc.), weapons skills (knife, gun, stick), and overall muscle memory in everything aforementioned.