Improve Your Timing By Breaking Visual Suppression

Summary

This video script provides an in-depth tutorial on identifying and overcoming visual suppression, a crucial aspect of timing and consistency in tennis. The instructor explains how suppression affects depth perception and ball timing, and shares techniques to assess and break suppression using a Brock string or makeshift equivalent. Various drills and exercises involving movement, muscle engagement, and smooth tracking are demonstrated to train the visual system and improve coordination between the eyes. By addressing suppression, players can unlock their potential for powerful, well-timed groundstrokes and enhance their overall game.

Takeaways

• 😎 Timing is crucial in tennis, and it depends on your ability to judge distance and depth accurately.
• 👁️ Visual suppression occurs when your brain can't efficiently use images from both eyes, affecting your depth perception.
• 🔍 To assess visual suppression, observe if you see two clear strings converging into a bead when using a Brock string.
• 💪 Exercises like vibrating the string, tapping feet, hand movements, tensing stomach, and back muscles can help break suppression.
• 🎯 Breaking suppression improves your ability to time the ball and hit with desired spin and power.
• 🔄 Switching between beads at different distances while engaging in suppression-breaking exercises trains your visual system.
• 🚶‍♀️ Smooth tracking, where your eyes smoothly transition between beads, further enhances visual training.
• ⏰ Dedicate regular practice time to these drills to improve timing and consistency on the court.
• 👍 Overcoming visual suppression can transform your tennis game by enhancing depth perception and timing.
• 🙌 Share this information with others to help improve their visual skills and overall game performance.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video script?

The main topic of the video script is about visual suppression in tennis and how to assess and train it to improve timing and ball striking.

Why is timing important in modern tennis groundstrokes?

Timing is crucial in modern tennis groundstrokes because it allows players to meet the ball out in front, which is necessary for generating the desired spin and power on their shots.

What is visual suppression, and how does it affect a player's ability to judge distance and depth?

Visual suppression occurs when the brain is unable to use the image from one of the eyes efficiently, relying primarily on the image from the other eye. This can impair the ability to accurately judge distance and depth, which is essential for proper timing in tennis.

How does the video script recommend testing for visual suppression?

The script recommends using a Brock string (or an improvised string with beads or knots) and observing how clearly the strings are seen entering and exiting the bead at different distances. If one string appears less clear or disappears, it may indicate suppression in that eye.

What exercises are suggested in the script to help break visual suppression?

The script suggests several exercises, including vibrating the string, tapping the feet, moving the hands, tensing the stomach muscles, and rotating the back muscles. These exercises are designed to stimulate different parts of the brain and help break the suppression.

What is the purpose of the 'switches' drill mentioned in the script?

The 'switches' drill involves rapidly shifting focus between different beads on the string. This exercise is meant to train the visual system and improve coordination between the eyes, similar to how one would train a muscle group in the gym.

What is the 'smooth tracking' drill, and how does it differ from the 'switches' drill?

The 'smooth tracking' drill involves slowly and smoothly transitioning the gaze between beads on the string, rather than rapidly switching. This exercise aims to train the eyes to move in a controlled and coordinated manner.

Why is it recommended to incorporate the suppression-breaking exercises into the training drills?

Incorporating the suppression-breaking exercises (e.g., foot tapping, hand movements, stomach tensing) into the training drills like 'switches' and 'smooth tracking' can help cement the improvements in visual function and carry them over to on-court performance.

What other visual skills are important for tennis players, according to the script?

The script mentions that suppression is just one area of visual skills needed on the court, implying that there are other important visual skills that tennis players should train to improve their overall performance.

How does the script encourage viewers to learn more about visual training for tennis?

The script provides a link in the description to a free workshop that teaches about other types of visual skills needed on the court, in addition to suppression. The narrator encourages viewers to register for this workshop to further improve their game.

Outlines

00:00

👁️ Assessing Visual Suppression

This paragraph explains the importance of timing and judging depth and distance in tennis, and introduces the concept of visual suppression. It describes how to use a Brock string (or a makeshift version) to assess visual suppression by observing the appearance of the strings and beads at different distances. If one eye is suppressed, the string from that eye may appear blurred or disappear altogether, indicating an issue with depth perception.

05:02

🏋️ Exercises to Break Visual Suppression

This paragraph outlines four exercises to help break visual suppression: 1) Vibrating the string by flicking it, 2) Tapping the left or right foot, 3) Moving the hand in a circular motion, and 4) Tensing the stomach or back muscles. The aim is to stimulate different parts of the brain and encourage it to use the images from both eyes more effectively. The exercises should be performed while observing the Brock string or beads at different distances.

10:03

🎯 Training Drills for Visual Suppression

This paragraph introduces two training drills to improve visual suppression: 1) Switches: Rapidly switching focus between different beads on the Brock string, potentially combined with the exercises from the previous paragraph. 2) Smooth Tracking: Slowly and smoothly transitioning the focus between beads, allowing the eyes to track the movement fluidly. These drills aim to train the visual system and improve timing and consistency on the court. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of breaking visual suppression and encourages sharing this information with others.

Keywords

💡Visual suppression

Visual suppression refers to the condition where the brain fails to efficiently utilize the images received from one of the eyes, relying primarily on the image from the other eye. This hampers accurate depth perception and distance judgment, crucial for timing groundstrokes in tennis. The video emphasizes identifying and overcoming suppression to improve visual skills and timing. For example, it states: "...what happens in a lot of people is the brain isn't able to use the image from one of the eyes as efficiently as it should be able to so it just uses the image from the other eye."

💡Timing

Timing is referred to as one of the most important aspects of modern tennis groundstrokes. It is directly dependent on the ability to accurately judge distance and depth, which is hindered by visual suppression. Proper timing allows players to meet the ball in front and impart the desired spin and power to their shots. As stated in the video: "...timing is all about how well your visual system is functioning and very specifically how accurately your brain can judge distance and depth because if you can't accurately judge distance your brain is not going to be able to start the swing at the right moment."

💡Brock string

A Brock string is a tool used in the video to assess and train visual suppression. It consists of a string with beads attached at different distances. By focusing on the beads, a person can identify if one eye's image is being suppressed by observing clarity differences between the strings leading to and from the bead. The video explains: "...we're going to use a Brock string so a Brock string looks like this, it's just a string with beads on it if you don't have one of these you can make one just get a bit of string put some beads on or put some little bit of paper bits of paper on or sometimes I just use a string and tie a knot in it and focus on the knots."

💡Depth perception

Depth perception, or the ability to accurately judge distance and depth, is a crucial visual skill for timing the ball in tennis. The video emphasizes that visual suppression hinders depth perception, as the brain cannot effectively combine the slightly different images from both eyes to gauge depth. Improving depth perception through exercises like using the Brock string can significantly enhance timing and consistency. The video states: "...your brain uses both of those images together puts them together and that's how it's able to accurately judge distance and depth."

💡Training exercises

The video introduces several exercises and drills designed to help identify and overcome visual suppression, thereby improving depth perception and timing. These include vibrating the Brock string, adding movements like foot tapping or hand motions, tensing the stomach muscles, and engaging back muscles through rotation and extension. Practicing these exercises along with smooth tracking and switching between beads on the Brock string can train the visual system for better on-court performance. The video encourages: "...if you break it if you start training it get rid of that issue it is gonna make a massive difference in the way that you play the game it's gonna really improve your timing and consistency."

💡Visual system

The visual system refers to the collective processes and neural pathways involved in vision, including the eyes, optic nerves, and the brain's visual cortex. The video emphasizes the importance of a well-functioning visual system, particularly in accurately judging distance and depth, for proper timing in tennis groundstrokes. It states: "...timing is all about how well your visual system is functioning and very specifically how accurately your brain can judge distance and depth because if you can't accurately judge distance your brain is not going to be able to start the swing at the right moment."

💡Groundstrokes

Groundstrokes are the fundamental shots in tennis, referring to the forehand and backhand strokes executed after the ball bounces on the court. The video focuses on the significance of timing for modern groundstrokes, as the ability to meet the ball out in front and impart spin and power depends on accurate depth perception and judgment of the ball's distance. It states: "...as you know timing is one of the most, important things in tennis modern, groundstrokes depend on your ability to, meet the ball out in front so if you, can't make that happen you're never, gonna be able to hit with a sort of spin, and power that you want to."

💡Binocular vision

Binocular vision refers to the coordinated use of both eyes to perceive depth and distance. The video explains that the brain combines the slightly different images from each eye to accurately judge depth, a process hindered by visual suppression. It states: "...the way your visual, system works your eyes work together, there's two different images so think of, your eyes kind of like camera lenses, your brain uses both of those images, together puts them together and that's, how it's able to accurately judge, distance and depth."

💡Switches

Switches is one of the training exercises introduced in the video, where the viewer is instructed to rapidly switch focus between different beads on the Brock string. This drill trains the visual system to smoothly transition and coordinate the eyes for accurate depth perception at various distances. The video explains: "...I'm just going to, switch, between the first speed the second bead, and the third bead so I'm just gonna, switch back and forwards between them, making sure that I'm not suppressed when, I do it and as I do this you can, probably see that what my eyes are doing, changes a little bit."

💡Smooth tracking

Smooth tracking is another exercise detailed in the video, where the viewer is instructed to slowly and smoothly transition their gaze between beads on the Brock string, rather than rapidly switching. This trains the visual system to smoothly adjust and coordinate the eyes for accurate depth perception across different distances. The video demonstrates: "...instead of jumping from, bead to bead I'm gonna try and track up, so I'm actually when you do this if you, do it well it kind of like moves the, excerpts and you know at the start, you've got the X coming into the bead, and then if I look at the next bead, there's an X there now what I'm gonna, try and do is make the X smoothly move, up to the bead and smoothly move back."

Highlights

Timing is one of the most important things in tennis, and modern groundstrokes depend on your ability to meet the ball out in front.

Timing is all about how accurately your brain can judge distance and depth because if you can't accurately judge distance, your brain is not going to be able to start the swing at the right moment.

One of the big factors in judging distance is something called suppression or lack of suppression, where the brain isn't able to use the image from one of the eyes as efficiently as it should be.

The technique involves using a Brock string with beads to assess visual suppression by observing the clarity of the strings and where they converge or diverge relative to the bead.

If there is visual suppression, one of the strings will either be less clear or completely disappear, indicating that the brain is not using the image from that eye efficiently.

The first drill to break visual suppression is to vibrate the string and get it bouncing a little bit, as sometimes just having a bit of movement is enough to get the brain to pay attention to the other image.

Another drill is to add a little bit of movement, such as tapping your left or right foot, making a figure of eight or wrist circle with your hand, or tensing your stomach muscles.

The final drill is to switch on some of the muscles in the back by rotating and extending the spine, as the areas of the brain tied to these movements can help break suppression.

Once suppression is broken, training exercises include switching between beads to train the eyes to coordinate and move in and out, and smooth tracking by slowly moving the eyes between beads.

These drills can be combined with the movement exercises that helped break suppression, such as foot tapping, hand movements, or stomach tensing.

Breaking visual suppression and training the visual system is crucial for improving timing and consistency in tennis.

A free workshop is offered to learn about other visual skills needed on the court beyond suppression.

Transcripts

as you know timing is one of the most

important things in tennis modern

groundstrokes depend on your ability to

meet the ball out in front so if you

can't make that happen you're never

gonna be able to hit with a sort of spin

and power that you want to and timing is

all about how well your visual system is

functioning and very specifically how

accurately your brain can judge distance

and depth because if you can't

accurately judge distance your brain is

not going to be able to start the swing

at the right moment so you can do

everything else that goes on before

contact point so what I'm going to be

talking about today is something that's

gonna be really important for helping

you to judge distance and depth there's

actually a few things that are involved

in judging distance but one of the big

ones is something called suppression or

lack of suppression the way your visual

system works your eyes work together

there's two different images so think of

your eyes kind of like camera lenses

your brain uses both of those images

together puts them together and that's

how it's able to accurately judge

distance and depth well what happens in

a lot of people is the brain isn't able

to use the image from one of the eyes as

efficiently as it should be able to so

it just uses the image from the other

eye and that's okay you can still judge

distance and depth a little bit but just

nowhere near as accurately so what I'm

going to teach you to do is how to

assess your suppression so identify if

in fact one of your eyes isn't being

used as efficiently as it should when

you do this when you start to work on

the drill that I'm going to show you

today it's going to help to break your

suppression it is going to make a

massive difference in your ability to

time the ball so I hope you're excited

for this this can literally transform

the way that you play tennis if you

enjoy if you find it helpful make sure

you hit that like button or hit the

thumbs up button subscribe to my channel

let's get this information to as many

people as possible it's a test visual

suppression we're going to use a Brock

string so a Brock string looks like this

it's just a string with beads on it if

you don't have one of these you can make

one just get a bit of string put some

beads on or put some little bit of paper

bits of paper on or sometimes I just use

a string and tie a knot in it and focus

on the knots are really simple to make

but the way that we're going to set up

we're going to attach it to something

and then you're going to hold it to the

bridge of your nose like

so in this position I'm now gonna be

looking at the bead and when I look at

the bead there are a few things that I

should see I should see two strings

going right into the center of the bead

I should see two strings coming out of

the bead the reason the reason I'm

seeing two strings is because there's a

different image for each eye

I should also see the string going right

into the bead for some people the

strings are gonna meet where they're

gonna cross in front of the bead for

some people the strings are gonna meet

and they're gonna cross behind the bead

both of those are problems which are

gonna mean there's gonna be issues with

depth judgment so as we work on the

different training drills we're gonna

try and fix that the other thing that

we're gonna be looking at to test visual

suppression is how clear the strings are

so both strings should have the same

level of clarity it should look really

bright just like the string both of them

going into the bead but when you've got

visual suppression one of the strings

will either be less clear or it will

completely disappear or it might appear

disappear appear disappear as your brain

gets confused with what should be

happening if your right eye is

suppressed it's the left eye or so the

left string that's going to disappear so

if I'm seeing the right side it means

that my right eye is suppressed if my

left eye suppressed it's the right

string that's going to disappear and if

you get confused you can just close one

of your eyes so if you close your left

eye you'll notice that the string comes

from that side if you close your right

eye

you'll notice the string comes from that

eye so that's basically how you test

suppression we should see two strings

going into the center of the bead two

strings coming out to the center of Ede

anything that isn't doing that means

there's an issue and it's something we

need to work on now this is also

something we want to test at different

distances and that's why we've got

different beads obviously if you don't

have the brach string you can just try

it tie three knots into the string at

different distances so I want to test to

see whether I'm suppressed up close a

little bit further away and then again

further away still because

as the ball travels towards you if

you've got an area maybe 2 3 4 5 meters

away where your suppressed that's going

to cause a problem maybe prevent you

from getting in the right position

obviously if you've got suppression at

the distance you need to be out for

contact point that's going to massively

affect how consistently you are so it's

important to test suppression multiple

different distances and then once we've

got it we're gonna work on some

exercises to train it okay for the first

drill that we're gonna try to break

visual suppression we're just going to

try and vibrate the string and get it

bouncing a little bit sometimes just

having a bit of movement is enough to

get your brain to pay attention to the

other image so a look like this I'm

gonna start by using this first bead you

just literally flick it and a lot of

people as they flick it like so it helps

the brain to pay attention so here I'm

looking at the red bead I'm now gonna

switch

and work on the yellow bead just

flicking it still focusing on it and

then I'm going to switch and look at the

green bead so really simple that's all

you do for me I don't have suppression

anymore so and all of them I can see

this string to start with but what you

might find is if you've got suppression

in one of those distances just by

flicking the string it might be enough

to bring it back into clarity and if

that's the case good keep working on a

regular basis until you can look at the

string without that or look at the bead

without it and you've broken your

suppression at that point I'm not gonna

give you a full explanation of why this

works because brains get a little bit

complicated but the next thing we're

going to try doing is adding a little

bit of movement it's to do with

stimulating specific parts of the brain

but I'm just gonna try adding some

movement so you're gonna look at the

bead and then you're gonna tap your left

foot and when you tap your left foot

you're gonna see whether it changes the

level of suppression or not it might it

might not we're doing different tests if

it doesn't try tapping with the other

foot see if that helps to break the

suppression because this excavates

another slightly different part of the

brain then you're gonna try moving your

hand so here I'm just doing a figure of

eight with my hand I could do a wrist

circle I could

our thumb circle just some kind of

movement with my hands and I'm gonna try

the other ones so same thing on the

other side but for each of those all

we're doing is just trying to create a

bit of movement hoping that the movement

activates a certain part of the brain to

see if we can break and break the

suppression because again the aim is to

break the suppression get your brain to

pay attention to both the strings and

use the image from both the eyes okay

the third thing we're going to try and

do to break the suppression is tense

your stomach again for a full

explanation it probably put you to sleep

but the part of the brain that helps

coordinate trunk movements it's really

important for the eyes as well so you're

gonna go you're gonna look at the string

or look at the bead that your suppressed

on and you're just gonna try and squeeze

your stomach so just try and tense your

stomach and see if that helps it and

then relax and then try and tense the

stomach let's see if by tensing the

stomach if it helps you to see the

string more clearly if it helps to break

the suppression the fourth and final

thing we're going to do to try and break

your suppression is we're gonna switch

on some of the muscles in the back so

for this one I'm just going to be

rotating a little bit and extending so

I'm basically just trying to tense all

these muscles in my back again because

of the air is the brain that this is

tied to we're just going to use this to

see if we can break suppression or not

so I'll be looking at whatever bead it

is that I'm suppressed that again and

I'm just going to rotate and just try

and extend my spine a little bit just to

try and contract the muscles down the

back so I'm gonna test the muscles on

the left and then I'm gonna do the same

thing to the right so I'm just going to

rotate to the right a bit and then just

try and arch my back a little bit just

to try and contract the muscles try and

activate some brain areas see if we can

break suppression okay so now that

you've worked on breaking your

suppression hopefully one of those

drills helped if it didn't there's gonna

be lots of other things that we can work

on but the video would be about five

hours long if I covered all of them so I

do want to show you a couple of training

exercises you can do the first one is

gonna be switches so I'm just going to

switch

between the first speed the second bead

and the third bead so I'm just gonna

switch back and forwards between them

making sure that I'm not suppressed when

I do it and as I do this you can

probably see that what my eyes are doing

changes a little bit so as I change

between the first and second bead you

can see that my eyes move in and out

hopefully in coordination so this is a

great training drill you can just set a

time I do that for 60 seconds and it's

just literally like you would train your

biceps in the gym you train your visual

system by spending an amount of time

working on this drill now one thing to

add to this if you found that when you

bounce the string it broke your

suppression so you can do them together

so I could be bouncing the string

switching between the beads just

bouncing and switching helping my brain

to pay attention so you can kind of

blend them together to help rate your

suppression same thing is going to go

for the other exercises if I found that

tapping my left foot broke the

suppression then I'll be tapping my left

foot switching between the beads if I

found that moving my right hand did it

I'll be moving my right hand switching

between the beads same thing for tensing

the stomach or same thing for engaging

those spinal muscles at the back I'll be

making those switches while I do the

training exercise to help break the

suppression cement in so then when I get

back on court I can tie in the ball

better okay one final drill for training

suppression or training break in

suppression we've just done switches now

we're going to be doing smooth tracking

so this time instead of jumping from

bead to bead I'm gonna try and track up

so I'm actually when you do this if you

do it well it kind of like moves the

excerpts and you know at the start

you've got the X coming into the bead

and then if I look at the next bead

there's an X there now what I'm gonna

try and do is make the X smoothly move

up to the bead and smoothly move back so

don't know whether you can see my eyes

on camera but they should be slowly

changing and moving inwards and outwards

so on the last one my eyes would have

been going dude dude dude dude now they

should be going slower because I'm gonna

try and smoothly track the X up and just

like we've done a moment ago we're then

gonna add in the variation so if you can

already do it and you're not suppressed

awesome just practice the drill like set

a timer again go for 60 seconds but if

you do have that suppression and you've

found a way to break it do the foot

tapping the hand movement the stomach

tensing the bat tense in one of those

exercises while you're doing these

smooth transitions again the aim is to

train your system so then when you step

on court you can see efficiently time

the ball well okay I hope you enjoyed

the video I know it was a little bit

long but suppressions quite a

complicated topic and sometimes you need

to try different things to try and break

it but if you break it if you start

training it get rid of that issue it is

gonna make a massive difference in the

way that you play the game it's gonna

really improve your timing and

consistency so I hope you really enjoyed

the video if you did hit that thumbs up

button subscribe to my channel it'd be

awesome if you could share this video

with other people as well just get this

information to as many people as

possible if you've got any questions

feel free leave them in the comment

section and also if you would like more

information about training and improving

your visual system I've made a free

workshop that teaches you about the

other types of visual skill you'll need

on caught because suppression is just

one area there's lots of different

visual skills that you need uncaught to

be able to time the ball well and things

like that there's gonna be a link down

in the description - feel free click on

that and go and register for that

workshop because I know that you will

love it and it will help you to change

your game