How can I improve my typing speed?

During this teaching exercise, you will learn the following

1. Finger stretching techniques
2. Finger techniques
3. Proper hand placement
4. Improving your mind to improve your typing speed
5. Training your sight
6. The Text file technique
7. The challenge

While typing and looking at the keyboard seem like the ideal thing to do for beginners it will surely affect the speed of typing not to mention mind improvement. It is okay for a beginner to look at the keyboard while he/she is typing but as soon as they stop to look then that becomes the challenge. The person becomes frustrated and develops immediate stress.

The methods I am going to show you are a part of the Reversal Phase technique created by Jsovirall. 

The Finger stretching techniques

If you are a person who exercises then you know how important stretching and warming-up are. It is the same thing when it comes to exercising our fingers. 

What does warm-up do?

When our muscles start to work we need more oxygen. During the respiratory process when we exercise we increase our breathing and heart rate. Our muscles use energy and as a result, we increase the energy-releasing reaction within our muscles. As we continue to exercise we increase our heart rate and breathing. Therefore, blood flow increases to supply the muscles with oxygen and to remove the waste. However, we are not going to warm up in that manner as we are going to exercise our fingers by stretching them.

The common name of our fingers

We have the thumb followed by the index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger or pinkie.

The Finger stretching techniques are compiled of different finger formations. First, we are going to start with the pointing formation. 

We are going to use our index fingers to point while we elevate our arms. Our arms should be in line with our shoulders. 

Be sure to push your index fingers upward to stretch them properly. We are going to do the pointing formation for twenty seconds and rest for five seconds. We are going to do this five times. Twenty seconds pointing and five seconds resting. After we have finished the Pointing formation technique then we will proceed with the Clapping technique. We will clap for one minute straight then we rest for 20 seconds. We are going to do this three times. Make sure you keep your fingers stretch while you are clapping. Don't underestimate simple techniques. These techniques are used by Jsovirall who is a fast typist. His passed away teacher taught him the techniques. They are old-fashioned but very effective.

As you continue to warm up your fingers they will feel light. We have completed the Pointing formation and the Clapping technique. Now it is time for the Pinching technique. 

In this technique, we will press our index fingers against our thumbs after we make a fist with both hands. We will press our index fingers against our thumbs one hundred times while counting. Remember that we are also training our minds to be patient also.

Why is this important for typing fast?

It helps to strengthen our finger muscles and make our movement lighter and quicker. It may seem hard at first but your fingers will definitely get stronger and lighter. When I first started this method I wanted to give up but it was worth it.

Now it is time for the Squeezing technique. 

The Squeezing technique will develop your finger muscles and strengthen your wrists and grip. It will also help with our typing formation. Rather than having your fingers stretched out when you are typing your fingers will be in a gripping formation which will help you to type faster. Pianists use the gripping formation when they are playing the piano. 

This is what I want you to do. I want you to put a shirt in the palm of your hands and start squeezing it. Make sure you are using both hands at the same time. We don't want one hand to be lazy. We want them both to work together as this is necessary for the typing phase. We are going to squeeze our shirts fifty times. Yes, we are going to do it fifty times.

Now it is time for the Chain reaction technique. In this technique, we are going to pretend like we are squeezing something with our hands. We are going to do it quickly for twenty seconds then rest for ten. So we are going to do the Chain reaction technique four times. You will feel your hands starting to get tired especially your weaker hand. Let us start. Remember that we are going to do it with both of our hands at the same time at the same pace. It is going to be difficult but you are going to train your mind. I will only teach you four basic techniques for now.

Now we have learned the following finger stretching techniques

1. Pointing formation 
2. The Clapping technique
3. The Squeezing technique
4. The Chain reaction technique
5. The Finger Technique

Using your fingers connectively takes a lot of time and effort. During piano classes, I have learned a simple but effective method which is called finger placement. I have enhanced that method and utilized it in typing. Playing the piano isn't the same as typing but it is similar. It uses similar techniques.

Now, I want you to take up your laptop. Don't turn it on just look at the black screen. We are going to start by putting both of our thumbs on the space button. Make sure your thumbs are half-inch apart. After you have done that make sure your fingers are in the gripping formation don't straighten your fingers. Keep them hooked.

If you are stronger with your left hand or right hand then let us train the weakest hand first because the strong hand is already confident about typing. Your mind is already at ease with your strongest hand. If your left hand is your weak hand then start pressing the "Caps lock" button with your little finger or pinkie then press the "Space" button back and forth. Make sure you keep the gripping formation while the palm of your hand is resting on the laptop. Let's start. 

We are going to press "Caps lock" with our little finger then the "Space" button with our thumb for 30 seconds non-stop. You are going to feel like you can't do it but by doing this process you are training your muscle memory and mind. Now I want you to use your right hand. Press "Enter" with your little finger and the "Space" button with your thumb for thirty seconds also. If you are stronger with the right hand immediately it will become easy. This technique is called muscle memory over mind because you are challenging yourself while building your muscle memory. 

Now let us proceed with the other technique called Random fingers. In this technique, we will keep our thumbs on the keyboard while our palms rest on the laptops. Make sure your thumbs are half-inch apart. Now we are going to start pressing the buttons randomly to exercise our fingers while we maintain the gripping formation. You will realize that mostly your index, middle finger, and ring finger on your strongest hand are moving. However, mostly the index finger and thumb will be moving on the weaker hand. Now you have confirmed once again that your weak hand has stubborn fingers. We then need to proceed with practicing. Proper hand placement. If we are going to type comfortably we need to follow what our fingers can do and then train them accordingly. Some people use their fingers differently. How they type is how they feel comfortable. I don’t see anything wrong with that. You are comfortable that way.

Okay, we have learned two finger techniques

1. Muscle memory over mind
2. Random fingers

Proper hand placement

It is time we turn on the laptop now. It is important that we have a comfortable hand placement by resting our palms on our laptops to avoid wrist pains and joint pains. At the end of the day, we will still experience some pain as we are training. Open Microsoft word. Let us start by using the finger technique called muscle memory over mind. This time we are not going to press any button just yet.

Place your thumbs on the "Space" button and make sure your thumbs are half-inch away from each other. Be sure to have your hand in the gripping formation. Let us start to type our first sentence. It can be anything. Forget about the errors you make and focus on typing. The main problem we face when typing is errors. It limits our improvement. Let us accept and correct them later. We need to make errors to type better.

I want you to write this sentence. This is going to be simple. Before you type it. I want you to set your timer so that you know how long you have taken to type it. Let us begin.

The sentence

I am a man. Yes, I said I am a man. I know that I am a man that is why I am a man. What is a man?

When you are finished typing stop the timer and write the time on a piece of paper. As you improve your typing speed you will realize that you have. Make sure you use both hands to type. Whichever finger you are comfortable typing with use them but don't use one hand. Use two hands. Train your weak hand. Re-type the sentence 20 times. Be sure to use your stopwatch and keep track of your time. You will see the improvement. Force your mind to accept what you are doing. If you feel like rest then do so and start again. Practicing isn't about pressuring yourself too much it is about building your confidence level. If you feel like you have a headache then stop and breathe. Use the Clapping technique to relax your mind. It is helpful. Breathe in and out while you clap.

Improving your mind to improve your typing speed

This is going to be a short explanation. Our mind plays an important part in typing. That is where we develop our flow of words and produce more thoughts. Therefore, our minds mimic the words we write. We use our minds to write. When we improve our minds we improve our typing speed by practicing. There is no way around it. You have to practice but don't practice to pressure yourself to be better only. Practice improving your mind also.

Training your sight

This process is necessary for you to type faster. Some people have difficulty when they try to look at the screen and the keyboard at the same time. If they do attempt to type by looking at the screen it becomes difficult because they have developed an attitude for only looking at the keyboard. That is perfectly fine. When I started typing I use to do the same thing but I had to challenge myself and train hard to type while looking at the screen and the keyboard back and forth.

How do we train our sight?

We start by keeping our heads straight and not bending. If we bend our necks it will affect our neck muscles in the long run and might even strain them. It can be very painful. I am a victim of that. Make sure you are seated in a comfortable position. Keep your posture straight. 

Whenever we type we are going to look at the keyboard first which is okay. While we are looking at the keyboard we want to slightly look at the screen so that we can start to train our sight. This will take some time to do and it needs effort. Every time you type I want you to glimpse the screen. After a while, it will become normal and help you to type without focusing too much on the keyboard. Your typing speed will increase. It might sound easy to do but when you are starting it will be difficult. You have to train. 

Note: Make sure you dim your computer brightness because if it is too bright it will affect your sight. You want to type properly not with a bright light on your face. If your eyes feel tired close them for ten minutes and relax your mind. It is important that you do. Your eyes need rest. Don't pressure them.

The Text file technique

To improve our typing speed, spelling, grammar, and punctuation we are going to use the Text file technique. When we use Microsoft word we have too many things to focus on. We just want a blank space to start with. This technique will help you type faster, spell better and utilize grammar (the basics) more as you focus on writing.

On your desktop that is your home screen. Do the following instructions:

1. Step 1: Left click
2. Step 2: Click "New"
3. Step 3: Click "Text Document"

Your text document will open. You can give it a name. After you have done that it is time to start typing. It can be whatever you want but for training, I am going to give you a short project (That is going to be the challenge). Before I do that, I would like to explain more about the Text file technique.

I want you to start every new sentence with a capital letter. Write the names, places, businesses, etc with a capital letter. Use punctuations. If you ask a question use the question sign. If you finish a sentence use full stop or period. If you want to start a new paragraph press "Enter" and start writing. All these basic skills will help you type faster. You will learn to spell properly. If you don't know how a word spells then research it and write the correct spelling while learning the definition of a word. The Text file technique is very important. You will also expand your vocabulary.

Don't worry about the errors that you are going to make. Just focus on typing that is the most important thing right now. Be sure to practice this method every day for twenty minutes or ten two times a day. The more you practice the quicker you improve.

The Challenge

Now, I am going to give you a challenge that you have to do for 10 days. It is going to be progressive.

I want you to copy the challenges (as in typing exercises) below paste it into a new text document or the same one you have created to make things easier as you are going to use it to train. The challenge is important.

Challenge 1: The clicking reaction.

In this challenge, you are going to count in your mind while you click the button according to the letters that have been provided below. Count letters first then click accordingly then press space and continue. To make this challenge easier I have already counted the letters. 

tttttttttt [press "t" 10 times then "Space" button] TTTTTTTTTT [Press "Caps lock" then "t" 10 times then "Space" button] 

Do this with your left hand for 2 minutes straight. Make sure you use your little finger to press "Caps lock" and your index finger to press "t". To press "Space" use your right thumb. If you make a mistake that's okay. Count in your mind. For the right hand follow the same method but press "u" with your index finger and still use your little finger on your left hand to press the "Caps lock" button. Use your left thumb to press the "Space" button. This technique will help you to train your fingers.

Challenge 2: The second phase of the clicking reaction

Now we are going to do a series of clicking. Make sure you read the instructions carefully. We are training our left hand and right hand.

(I have created a list key type code so that you can train smoothly. "Space" means "S". Index Finger means "Indx F". "Middle finger" means "Mid F". Ring finger means "Rng F". Little finger means "Lit F". Left-hand means "L hand" and right-hand means "R hand."

The bracket with numbers means how many times you must press a letter eg [28]. This means we have to press “R” 28 times below. However, we can categorize “R” into a set. We divide 28 by two and we get fourteen. So set equals fourteen. How do we write it? [Set/14] Now let us begin the exercise.

In exercise [1] we will use our left thumb to press the "Space" button. Be sure to press the "Caps lock" button with your little finger. Stay focus.

Exercise [1]

L hand--> start with Indx F--> Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [s] Rr [Set/14]

Excercise [2]

L hand--> start with Mid F--> Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [s] Ee [Set/14]

Exercise [3]

Remember to use your left thumb to press the "Space button" and your little finger to press "Caps lock"

L hand--> start with Rng F for W, Mid F for E then Indx F for R--> WERwer [s] WERwer [s] WERwer [s] WERwer [s] WERwer [s] WERwer [s] WERwer [s] WERwer [s] WERwer [Set/14] repeat five times. I know it is going to challenging but you will get better.

Exercise [4] 

It is time to type "We are" for some minutes but this time we are going to use our right thumb to press the "Space" button.

L hand--> start with "Rng F" for W. "Mid F" for E. "Rng F" for A. "Indx F" for R. "Mid F" for E.

Okay, let us start Exercise [4] Use your right thumb to press the "Space" button

L hand---> We [s] are [s] We [s] are [s] We [s] are [s] We [s] are [s] We [s] are [s] We [s] are [s] We [s] are [s] We [s] (Do this five times or more if you like. Train you mind and fingers.)

Exercise [5] 

We are going to add a combination of words now. Use any thumb you are comfortable with to press the "Space" button or other fingers. Whichever way you are comfortable go ahead. Be sure to use both of your hands to type though.

I don't want to be too complicated and tell you which finger to press what. Practice. Now it is time to write words. Let us begin.

We are going to write the following below.

The man was the one that drank all of the beer yesterday. The man's name was Carl Anderson and he was from Asantan Woods. Every day he goes to John's Liquor store to buy liquor. I don't know what is wrong with him. Sometimes, I think he is silly for being greedy for something so toxic to the body. 

I want you to type this and time yourself and do it again five more times and focus. Read in your mind while you write. You will improve your typing speed. However, there is more training but I won't write a long post. Those trainings are different. This will be all for now. In the other challenges, you will learn to correct, do critical thinking and think fast, etc.

Important: After practice be sure to do somebody stretches and move around so that your lower back doesn't become seized up. 

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