This is ultra instinct, which is an anime superpower that allows you to react faster than you thought was possible, and I, Ujjwal Nova, am gonna master it in real life. There's two things that I need to do in order to pull this off. I needed to increase my reaction time with a special training technique, which I'll show you in a bit, and then truly put that skill to the test by training one of the world's hardest sports: boxing.
Understanding the Starting Point: Facing Fear and Instinct
When I started, I connected with Darko, who's an incredibly skilled fighter who's been practicing for 22 years, and he agreed to train me. But at first, he had no idea what I wanted to train for. For now, let's say I was training for the final battle, and I'll explain what that means in a bit. But for now, it was day one. I had next to no boxing experience.
What I was gonna need was a few moves to be able to use in the final battle. On day one, he walked me through the first move that I could add to the inventory. If you just think about throwing a punch, this is probably the move that you think of. We spent the day working on the techniques for it, but then we needed to test my reaction time. He brought me against the wall, told me to keep my gloves up, and dodge all the punches that he would throw. The goal was to see how fast I'd be able to react without any training.
This is where you can see the first and biggest problem came up. By watching me, you might notice that I curl myself up into a ball and essentially transform into a human punching bag. And you're probably thinking something like, "Dude, just open your eyes and dodge them, right?" Well, for me, it's not that simple. For as long as I could remember, I've always been terrified of putting myself in any danger. And you might think that's a good thing; I'm typically pretty cautious, but when it comes to things like this, you can see it holds me back. My natural instinct is not where it needs to be, which is why I need to master ultra instinct to truly optimize myself.
Building the Foundation: Training Reaction Time and Boxing Skills
So we finished up the day, and I headed home to work on building up my reaction time even more. How do we increase our reaction time and achieve massive superhuman reflexes with only a tennis ball? It's simple actually. Every night I would work on this, and it involves some tennis balls in a couple different games.
Specialized Reaction Training: Tennis Ball Drills
The first one looks pretty easy, but it's not as easy as you think, where you just have to catch the tennis balls before they hit the ground. The problem is you only have a few milliseconds to actually process which ball was falling. I worked on it for a while, slowly feeling more confident.
Drill number one will make you never miss a punch, and it's quite simple. You bounce the ball up and down and you keep hitting it. Like what? It sounds stupid, I know, but it's like you're hitting the ball right up and down, and you're basically training your hand-eye coordination 'cause you're catching the ball, you see that it's moving, or and you're catching. Also, a little bit of reaction time 'cause you have to react when you hit the ball. You can't just let it go all the way up. And also, do not just stand still and hit the ball. When you're hitting the ball, move around just like this. It's basically shadow boxing, but you're improving your hand-eye coordination.
Drill number two will increase your reaction time a lot. You hit the ball and you catch it. Now, how will this increase my reaction time? 'Cause when you hit the ball, right, you have to catch it at the right time. You can't let it go too high, can't catch it too early. You must catch it at the right time.
Drill number three will make you a master puncher. You grab the ball and you start catching it. Like, but how from just catching a ball? Well, you're catching, you're increasing your hand-eye coordination. But when doing this drill, don't bounce the ball back like this. Just let it go, let it fall, and start catching it.
Now, drill number four will make you have superhuman reflexes. You need to get a ball thrown at you like this. Let's say a ball's getting thrown at you, right? Let's say you grab a friend, right? Tell him not to throw a ball at you, bro, you're going to expect it anyways. You're going to dodge various ways. But throw it at a side. Let's see the ball gets thrown over here, right? I'm sitting here and the ball gets thrown over here. I have to dodge. Even though the ball's not hitting me, it's like punches coming and I'm dodging. When the ball hits now, the other side hits, I dodge. Another side hits, I dodge. Tell the friend not to throw at you, but to the other sides, right, left.
Expanding the Boxing Inventory
When it came to day two, Darko had some bigger plans for me. The next skill to add in the inventory is called a hook. And the reason it's so special is because if someone has their hands up to block a shot, you can just go around them and hit them in the side of the head. This is by far one of the more complicated shots to learn, but I already felt like I was starting to get the hang of it.
But on top of this, he wanted to show me some blocking and defense. As much as I wanted to learn how to dodge every single shot that came my way, he told me that there was gonna come a time where I was going to get hit. I was going to have to learn to have to be okay with that. And he showed me how to brace myself so I'd be able to take the hits easier.
Defining the Goal: The Final Battle
But this is where I told him what I was planning to do with the final battle. You see, several months ago, I wanted to give boxing a try for a couple of days. Me and my friend Paul decided to work on it together, where we would learn the basics and then hop into the ring to fight. The problem is, when I fought him several months ago, despite us both not having any skill whatsoever, he was a lot bigger than me and a lot stronger than me. Needless to say, I horribly lost the fight and had to call it within 30 seconds. Ever since that day, I've been terrified to fight anyone again. But I decided to overcome that fear, and now I don't just want to fight anyone, but I want to fight Paul again.
I told Darko that this is what I wanted to do for the final battle and that I only had a few more days to prepare. And well, at first he thought it was a bad idea because obviously, you know, like keep me safe and stuff. He agreed to train me and make me ready for the fight. We were now gonna have to step it up.
Intensifying the Training: Slipping, Rolling, and Combos
Before we could introduce another skill to the inventory, on day three, we worked on blocking. He taught me how to slip and roll away from the punch, and we spent a lot of time practicing it. This is the first time that I started to feel things coming together. There were still five days until the final battle, but only four days until Darko would help me put this to the test. I had definitely noticed an improvement in my reaction time. The problem was, it seemed like Paul had a pretty good reaction time as well. Plus, he didn't flinch at the slightest movement like I did. At this point, I wasn't sure how it was going to go.
On day 4, we practiced for a bit before we were able to add another move to the inventory. This is called an uppercut, and right now I had three out of the five skills that I needed. Once I reach all five, something special happens. Now, you're probably just wondering why I can't learn all five skills at once. It seems pretty easy, right? Well, while each of the skills are relatively straightforward, as you can see here, I'm starting to apply it to combos. These combos become exponentially harder per skill that I learned because although right now I'm just reacting to Darko's relatively fast pool noodles, when you're actually in the ring and things are 10 times faster, you need to be able to execute the right skill at the right time without thinking.
The Breakthrough: When Everything Clicks
But then something amazing happened. When it came to day five of my training, everything seemed to click. Somehow, I felt twice as fast and twice as aware. I noticed a huge improvement in my reaction time when I went to dodge Darko's punches. My head was up, I could see what was coming and properly react to the situation. Then I started to work on taking some light punches to get used to being hit.
Now remember when I said something special would happen once I unlocked all five skills? Well, now it was time to unlock the four because I was going to be fighting Paul in just three more days. Once I unlocked all five skills, I was gonna be able to fight Darko. I'd already seen a ridiculous amount of improvement, and I felt like I knew what I was doing. I was moving and reacting so much faster than I was at the beginning. But the problem is, once you step in the ring for a real fight, ninety percent of it goes out the window. The good news is I was starting to quickly incorporate all the skills together. It was like I wasn't even thinking and would just automatically react to the pads in front of me. And although I usually knew what he was going to throw, I still saw a way bigger improvement than I thought and was extremely curious to see how I'd do in the ring.
Testing the Limits: Sparring and Final Preparations
How you feeling? I was feeling about as nervous as I was when I first went to spar against Paul. I felt more confident, but I was against Darko. That's fair. His goal for me was to see myself get beat up. Okay. If I could do that, we're good. And if I land a few things and keep going.
Tomorrow I would spar Darko. Then the day after that was the final battle against Paul. We warmed up and practiced for a bit, and then it was time to learn the final skill. This is a straight shot to the body and might be my ticket to beating Paul. What I've noticed about his fighting style is he typically only uses the first three items in the inventory. And although when he hits, it's incredibly strong and painful, he focuses everything around his face, leaving his body exposed. My plan was to stay lower since he was taller, he had a longer reach, but he might not expect me going in for his body.
On the day that it came to spar Darko, I wanted Paul to watch. I wanted to see if he noticed any improvement and if he was scared to fight me or still thought that he would win. Paul said, "I'm really hoping to see some large improvements, but if I'm being honest, I don't think it's going to be enough."
When I stepped in the ring with Darko for the first time, I had the pressure of actually getting hit, and immediately things felt way harder. Paul mentioned he hadn't been training at all, maybe hit the bags a couple times. He seemed pretty confident going into our Friday fight, stating, "I really, I don't think there's enough time for Tyler [Ujjwal Nova] to kind of be able to punch up to someone 20 pounds heavier, but I'm excited to see what Tyler [Ujjwal Nova] can do now."
While it might be easy for you to see everything coming, in the ring, it's a different story. I started to feel some of my training go out the window. But not everything left me, and as the fight went on, I started to feel more confident. And I knew Darko was going easy on me, but even still, it was very, very tiring. I just got to make sure that I'm not the one that gasses out in our fight because I definitely had more cardio than Paul. Tomorrow was the final battle.
After watching me fight, Paul decided to do some practicing. He noted, "Okay, when Tyler [Ujjwal Nova] fights, he always drops down like this, keeps his hands on his head. And last fight, I hit him with an uppercut, and that was the beginning of the end. And I just watched him fight, and he's still doing the same thing. So I'm gonna try to hit him with that uppercut and hopefully I can run with that."
The Final Battle: Overriding Instinct with Ultra Instinct
When I woke up the morning of the fight, I felt a wave of anxiety that I hadn't felt in a long time. Not only had I been training for this for the past three weeks, and not only was I scared of getting hurt like last time, but I wanted so bad to prove it to myself that I could actually win this. In a lot of ways, I'm used to stepping outside of my comfort zone, but this was taking it to a new level where I'm trying to override a core aspect about myself.
I knew that as soon as I stepped in the ring, my ability to think would leave me. It was time to see whether my previous instincts would take over or that if instead of covering myself up, I'd be able to react to everything coming and utilize true ultra instinct. Paul and I geared up and got ready to go. Everything was back on the line to see who would win. Scared at all? You'll be fine. It was enough. No slapping. Um yeah, have fun. That's close.
As soon as I heard the bell go off, my mind went completely blank. I knew Paul would try and rush me. I did everything I could to keep my eyes up and watch for the shots, but at first, it wasn't looking like it was enough. The last time I fought Paul, I only lasted about 30 seconds before receiving a fatal hit. That hit caused me to call the fight and back down, and I told myself I wasn't gonna let it happen again. But then it did. However, this time I wasn't going to quit. I was going to get back up and keep fighting.
Okay, as much as I wanted to win this, things weren't looking good. It was only the first round, and Paul kept coming at me fast. My training was helping a little, but I wasn't sure if it would be enough. I started to understand why you don't rush into things sometimes. What was I thinking, that I could train in only a couple weeks and become amazing? I took a deep breath and brushed it all off. This was definitely not easy for Paul either, and though he was bigger and stronger than me, I figured that if I can keep it up, I'd be able to outlast him.
And with a bit of a warm up from the first round, I started to give it everything I've got. And at this point, I felt like I was doing better, but I was still terrified. Each of the punches hurt, but I started to feel confident enough to open my eyes and see the punches coming. And at this point, I had barely hit Paul, but I was starting to understand how he could barely hit me. As I could see him getting tired, I started to react faster and faster, but I wasn't thinking. I was totally relying on instinct.
It all came down to the final round. We were both going, but not strong. I started to understand how exhausting this sport could be. But up until this point, all I had been doing is defense. I knew if I wanted to win this, I would have to land a hit. I was starting to feel more confident, but as the clock counted down, I knew I didn't have much time. We kept going, giving it everything we had, knowing that in a few more seconds, it could be anyone's game.
The Takeaway: Improvement is Always Possible
The amount of relief that I had after it finished was insane. This was more than just a fight for me. I felt like I'd overcome a core part of myself, and I started to realize that no matter who you are or what you're born with, there's always the ability to improve. I just wanted to last more than 30 seconds. At last, yeah. How long did I last? More than that, yeah, the whole three rounds. Yeah. And I responded, I fought back, I got hit with some good shots, and came back. Awesome.
Mastering superhuman reflexes, or getting closer to that feeling of ultra instinct, isn't just about physical drills like the ones with the tennis ball or the hard work in the boxing ring. It's about facing down your fears, understanding your natural, sometimes unhelpful, instincts, and consciously training to override them. It requires dedication, specific training techniques to sharpen reaction time and coordination, and putting those skills under pressure to see if they hold up. It proved to me, Ujjwal Nova, that improvement is always possible if you're willing to push past your limits.
