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CNS Training…
“It’s mostly CNS”
“It will tear up your CNS”
I hear this a lot, but what does it really mean? What does it mean for something to be hard on your CNS? I read a great article on this from T-Mag that sums it up nicely. I will try to cut/paste and summarize (because I know you won’t read it if I just insert it word for word).
Nerves are like endocrine glands….they transmit fluid to communicate and get the job done. This fluid is made up of sodium ions, and it travels around the various parts of the motor center. There is a relationship between the nervous system and the endocrine system. The nerve cells make chemicals. These chemicals get delivered to various places including the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland, as you probably know, regulates other hormones in your body. Most endocrine glands have nerves that control secretions and blood flow….nerves feed organs. If the CNS isn’t functioning properly, the endocrine system won’t either.
The CNS also takes on the noble directive of taking care of the muscles. “A motor nerve axon attaches to a muscle cell by a motor end plate, and this creates a neuromuscular synapse. Every muscle cell has one end plate. Each motor axon, though, has a number of branches and each branch connects to a muscle cell. In other words, a motor nerve sends commands to many muscle cells, but each muscle cell receives messages from only one nerve cell.” Each neuron, and it’s attached muscle cells make up a unit. The more work you ask the muscle to do, the more units the CNS recruits to perform. Each attached muscle cell relies on the neuron to contract and lengthen, but most importantly it nourishes the cells. The cells and the neuron talk all the time, even when you’re not using them. If they ever become severed, they are replaced by fat or connective tissue…gone forever.
“If you apply pressure to these neural "glands," as little as five pounds for five minutes, you can reduce its rate of transmission by as much as forty percent. And, if this connection is further comprised, you can be in a whole lot of trouble, boy. Not only can you experience clouded thoughts, increased or decreased sensitivity, and imprecise muscular movements; you can experience a wide range of organ dysfunctions, including glandular malfunction. And, since no "disease" would be detectable, you can't be treated. If the problem isn't corrected, it can lead to seriously compromised health, and if the problem effects muscle tissue, you eventually end up with less muscle tissue or seriously impaired muscle tissue.”
The neurotransmitters communicate using norepinephrine, acetylcholine, serotonin, and dopamine. They are like test, GH, or insulin to your endocrine system. The nervous system and endocrine systems work together…if one is suffering, the other will too…and so will your muscles.
You hear me talking a lot about doing my accessory work in the “plane of action I intend to use it” because I feel like I get more “carry over” from that. In other words, by doing rows for my lats, rather than pull downs, I increase my ability to use my lats more efficiently (ie recruit more of my lat muscles) when I bench, because the rowing plane is just the benching plane, only upside-down. If you try do bicep curl with your right arm, feet shoulder width apart, and crank out 10 reps, then try it with your left foot ahead of your right, you will probably be able to do more. This is because the bicep is working in a familiar recruitment pattern, and has developed more strength in that pattern as a result.
“A few years back, some researchers conducted a unique experiment. They recruited the usual pasty-face human lab rats and had them do isometric elbow flexion movements. The thing is, they only had them train one arm. After two weeks, the trained arm increased in strength by about 25%. However, the untrained arm also increased in strength by 15%. The researchers theorized that during the first two weeks of training, about 80% of the strength change was due to neural factors, while only 20% of the strength change was due to changes in the muscle itself. After 8 weeks of doing the same boring exercise, though, about 95% of the strength changes were due to changes in the muscle and only 5% were due to neural changes."
…and if I needed more reason to do speed work:
“A lot of neurologist-athletes believe that as we age, motor nerve cells, which control fast movement, deteriorate. Without high-quality speed work, they deteriorate even faster. With that in mind, it would be a good idea, especially for lifters who are past 30, to incorporate high-speed work for each body part at least once a week.. Furthermore, few lifters, outside of powerlifters, generally train the nervous system as a whole by doing sets of 2 to 3 reps. And, many who do train in this very low-rep range rest for about 60 seconds or so. That's a mistake. If you rest for 60 seconds or so, you've waited long enough to replenish substrates (creatine, ATP, yada yada, yada), but you haven't waited long enough for your nervous system to recover. The nervous system generally takes five to six times as long to recover as your substrates take to replenish themselves, so the optimum rest period for CNS training is about 5 minutes between sets. Again, it would be a good idea for bodybuilders to train in this low rep, long rest range periodically to ensure overall CNS health.”
Injury also effects CNS efficiency. Over time, all we do to our bodies creates microtrauma. Eventually this limits movement and can even pinch off nerves, causing the muscles to slowly atrophy until they are barely functional. “Massage techniques, like ART can break up these micro-adhesions and restore functional and neurological health to muscles, tendons, and nerves.”
The author equates increasing hormone levels (natural or not), without improving neurotransmission, to filling your car with high octane fuel while leaving the same old rusty spark plugs in place.
“It’s mostly CNS”
“It will tear up your CNS”
I hear this a lot, but what does it really mean? What does it mean for something to be hard on your CNS? I read a great article on this from T-Mag that sums it up nicely. I will try to cut/paste and summarize (because I know you won’t read it if I just insert it word for word).
Nerves are like endocrine glands….they transmit fluid to communicate and get the job done. This fluid is made up of sodium ions, and it travels around the various parts of the motor center. There is a relationship between the nervous system and the endocrine system. The nerve cells make chemicals. These chemicals get delivered to various places including the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland, as you probably know, regulates other hormones in your body. Most endocrine glands have nerves that control secretions and blood flow….nerves feed organs. If the CNS isn’t functioning properly, the endocrine system won’t either.
The CNS also takes on the noble directive of taking care of the muscles. “A motor nerve axon attaches to a muscle cell by a motor end plate, and this creates a neuromuscular synapse. Every muscle cell has one end plate. Each motor axon, though, has a number of branches and each branch connects to a muscle cell. In other words, a motor nerve sends commands to many muscle cells, but each muscle cell receives messages from only one nerve cell.” Each neuron, and it’s attached muscle cells make up a unit. The more work you ask the muscle to do, the more units the CNS recruits to perform. Each attached muscle cell relies on the neuron to contract and lengthen, but most importantly it nourishes the cells. The cells and the neuron talk all the time, even when you’re not using them. If they ever become severed, they are replaced by fat or connective tissue…gone forever.
“If you apply pressure to these neural "glands," as little as five pounds for five minutes, you can reduce its rate of transmission by as much as forty percent. And, if this connection is further comprised, you can be in a whole lot of trouble, boy. Not only can you experience clouded thoughts, increased or decreased sensitivity, and imprecise muscular movements; you can experience a wide range of organ dysfunctions, including glandular malfunction. And, since no "disease" would be detectable, you can't be treated. If the problem isn't corrected, it can lead to seriously compromised health, and if the problem effects muscle tissue, you eventually end up with less muscle tissue or seriously impaired muscle tissue.”
The neurotransmitters communicate using norepinephrine, acetylcholine, serotonin, and dopamine. They are like test, GH, or insulin to your endocrine system. The nervous system and endocrine systems work together…if one is suffering, the other will too…and so will your muscles.
You hear me talking a lot about doing my accessory work in the “plane of action I intend to use it” because I feel like I get more “carry over” from that. In other words, by doing rows for my lats, rather than pull downs, I increase my ability to use my lats more efficiently (ie recruit more of my lat muscles) when I bench, because the rowing plane is just the benching plane, only upside-down. If you try do bicep curl with your right arm, feet shoulder width apart, and crank out 10 reps, then try it with your left foot ahead of your right, you will probably be able to do more. This is because the bicep is working in a familiar recruitment pattern, and has developed more strength in that pattern as a result.
“A few years back, some researchers conducted a unique experiment. They recruited the usual pasty-face human lab rats and had them do isometric elbow flexion movements. The thing is, they only had them train one arm. After two weeks, the trained arm increased in strength by about 25%. However, the untrained arm also increased in strength by 15%. The researchers theorized that during the first two weeks of training, about 80% of the strength change was due to neural factors, while only 20% of the strength change was due to changes in the muscle itself. After 8 weeks of doing the same boring exercise, though, about 95% of the strength changes were due to changes in the muscle and only 5% were due to neural changes."
…and if I needed more reason to do speed work:
“A lot of neurologist-athletes believe that as we age, motor nerve cells, which control fast movement, deteriorate. Without high-quality speed work, they deteriorate even faster. With that in mind, it would be a good idea, especially for lifters who are past 30, to incorporate high-speed work for each body part at least once a week.. Furthermore, few lifters, outside of powerlifters, generally train the nervous system as a whole by doing sets of 2 to 3 reps. And, many who do train in this very low-rep range rest for about 60 seconds or so. That's a mistake. If you rest for 60 seconds or so, you've waited long enough to replenish substrates (creatine, ATP, yada yada, yada), but you haven't waited long enough for your nervous system to recover. The nervous system generally takes five to six times as long to recover as your substrates take to replenish themselves, so the optimum rest period for CNS training is about 5 minutes between sets. Again, it would be a good idea for bodybuilders to train in this low rep, long rest range periodically to ensure overall CNS health.”
Injury also effects CNS efficiency. Over time, all we do to our bodies creates microtrauma. Eventually this limits movement and can even pinch off nerves, causing the muscles to slowly atrophy until they are barely functional. “Massage techniques, like ART can break up these micro-adhesions and restore functional and neurological health to muscles, tendons, and nerves.”
The author equates increasing hormone levels (natural or not), without improving neurotransmission, to filling your car with high octane fuel while leaving the same old rusty spark plugs in place.
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