An important aspect you need to remember is when to relax your joints. Holding everything tends to make your tori slower.

Think of it like, making a certain body part move (like a leg), by moving some other part of the tori's body (like the arms).

Noodle around in your favourite mods and try fighting with more joints relaxed. Obviously there's a time for extending/contracting/holding; and figuring out when to use those just takes time.