ARTICLES:
- Carbs, Fat & Protein
- Low Back Pain
- Neurological Training
- Nutritional Guidelines
- Periodization
- Recovery, Weightloss & Gain
- Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements
- Weight vs. Technique
- Youth Guidelines
Neurological Training
I often ask strength coaches what they term as neurological training. The responses vary but all seem to be on the same path of thought. Though the answers I get are not the ones I am looking for they are not incorrect. Some of the most common responses to the question posed are that; neurological training is the neurological adaptation that occurs to an athlete when they first begin to train with weights; that it is the strength gained at the onset of training; or that it is the body awareness that occurs through proprioceptive exercises.
Though these statements are all correct, they do not answer the question as to what neurological training is. It is commonly known that athletes, especially the young, will see great neurological adaptations at the onset of training. Movement patterns will become more proficient and a greater ease of movement can be displayed. Often times the gains seen in this period of adaptation, will lead to strength gains. These gains are not due to muscular hypertrophy but instead are due to better recruitment patterns of the involved motor units. This holds true and helps to explain the gains in postural control seen in proprioceptive training. Synchronization of those motor units will also play a key role in this form of functional training.
So the question still goes unanswered, what is neurological training? Neurological training is a form of training that produces maximal gains in strength and power output in athletes without incurring any muscular hypertrophy. It occurs within the motor neurons rather than at a muscular level. It is the training of the body to work at a higher capacity than previously seen through conventional weight training. In order to fully understand how to train an athletes’ nervous system, one must fully understand how we as strength coaches affect the central nervous system and how we can improve athletes’ performance through maximizing the potential within the central nervous system.
The anatomy of the central nervous system:
A motor unit consists of the motor neurons, axons, motor endplates, and the muscle fiber that is activated by one motor neuron.
How is strength developed through neurological training?
It is the efficiency of the nervous system that should be the primary concern for the consideration of strength development. Too often strength coaches look at how to train the muscle, how to develop the strength of the muscle without considering what effects occur on the neurological level. Strength gains or muscular force production is increased through the improvement in intermuscular coordination. In order to improve the coordination of the involved motor units for the purpose of increasing muscular strength, three things must be done.
First the recruitment patterns must be improved. The nervous system must be developed so that it optimally recruits the necessary number of motor units needed in order to maximally perform the desired movement. Secondly, the rate coding must be improved. Those motor units that are recruited for work must be firing at an optimal rate in order to produce the necessary force needed for the movement. Lastly, the motor units must work in a synchronized manner. Better synchronization will lead to a smoother movement pattern and less inhibition of antagonist muscle groups.
Understanding the recruitment pattern of the muscular system allows us to begin to understand why some individuals are stronger than others when it comes to moving a heavy load. It is important to remember that when the body begins to perform a movement, the smallest motor units, those with the lowest firing threshold will be activated first in all types of activity. These motor units being the type one muscle fibers, those used for slow steady continuous movement. As the demand for work increases, the motor units with the largest motor neurons begin to be recruited. These being the type two muscle fibers; those used for shorter bursts of more strength and or power dependent activity.
Knowing this, we can now understand that regardless of the load, the slow twitch muscles are going to be recruited first. Because of this fact, it can be determined that the success of a lift is determined by how fast the athlete is able to begin recruiting the larger or the fast twitch motor neurons. The successful athlete, as a result has better intermuscular coordination due to the fact that they have optimized the recruitment patterns within the involved motor apparatus in order to complete the movement pattern with maximal force production.
Due to the success of the lift being dependant upon the fact that the more skilled individual has the ability to recruit the necessary motor units to complete the lift at a faster rate, the rate coding or the firing rate of that athletes’ neuromuscular system is more efficient. Therefore, the greater the percentage of maximal force, the greater the firing rates of the involved motor units. However, it is important to note that the greater percentage of maximal force is not reliant upon the load attempted to be displaced. It is the desired voluntary muscular contraction that determines the amount of force produced. Movements done with light loads and great speed require a high firing rate. Therefore speed of movement must also be considered when determining the firing rate of the involved motor units.
With this said, maximum muscular force is reached when the maximum number of slow twitch and fast twitch motor units are recruited, when the firing rates of those recruited motor units is optimal to produce a constant coordinated contraction within each motor fiber, and when all involved motor units work synchronously with maximal voluntary effort.
Kevin Ebel, M.Ed., CSCS
Sources
Benardot, Dan. (2000). Nutrition for Serious Athletes. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
Clark, Nancy. (1997). Sports Nutrition Guidebook. Brookline, MA: Sports Medicine Brookline
Berning, Jacqueline, & Steen, Suzanne. (1998) Nutrition for Sport and Exercise. Garthersburg, MD: Aspen Publishers, Inc.
Australian Institute of Sport: http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/ Retrieved February 15, 2003.
NTS-AD located in Stevens Point and Plover, Wisconsin.
Email us today at: info@nts-ad.com or call 715-252-9926