An elusive variable to the lifting game is the size of your CNS pool. The Central Nervous System can take only so much abuse before your CNS is fried. A few years ago, and even recently I trained two days a week, performing huge workouts that spanned 2-3 hours or longer, and I felt I was able to keep up with the pace despite often hearing people recommending to keep workouts no longer than 1 hour. I did make gains at the time, and improved, but to comparatively look at a routine that has you in the gym four days a week for example with the same volume as the two day routine, but spread out amongst those four days, we can see that the CNS pool will be larger and allow us to lift with more intensity on each exercise.
Intensity in lifting terms is part of the trio in the formula intensity, frequency, and volume. To raise one of those three, you must lower one of the other two or both. Frequency is how often you lift, volume is the amount of reps per lift, and intensity is the available strength and power that you have at that given moment. A fallacy would be for someone to claim that they are so great their intensity is always ten out of ten, which is simply impossible. To excel in lifting, is to bend time to your advantage. For instance, any given muscle can take 24-72 hours to recover, and thus to hammer those muscles with lifting as soon as they're recovered will allow you to be more efficient. The 24-72 hours rule is not a hard rule. For example, if I do only five reps of biceps curls, it won't take 24 hours to recover.
Muscles and their recovery is one aspect of lifting as are tendon strength, joint strength, and your CNS. It is easy to picture muscles, tendons, and joints, in our minds but the CNS is much more of a global aspect than a localized one. Compound lifts are often prescribed in many genres of fitness because they involve multiple joints, and thus work more of the body than an isolation exercise. Compounds will drain your CNS more so than isolations. The Deadlift especially is known for zapping the CNS, which is why it's often heard of that people do not program their Deadlift as frequently as other lifts, and many people seem to rely on their Squat to carry over to the Deadlift, which it does and not vice versa. I believe that reason is because they're both hip-dominant, although the Squat is more knee-dominant.
Deadlifts are infamous for making your lower back sore. Though I've noticed it is less the case when using a belt. The lower back (which is not a muscle in itself) takes longer to recover than any other muscle in our bodies. The lower back is part of the spinal erectors, which can often go neglected because they're hit the hardest in Deadlifts, and not everyone Deadlifts. I was recently Deadlifting after I had done the Back Squat and Front Squat at my heaviest weights, and therein it's clear that my CNS pool wasn't that large going into Deadlifts every week. I find grip strength, and having recovered hands (pain-free) is also a key aspect in training. I feel a soar of confidence when I have both my CNS and grip strength at disposal.
No comments:
Post a Comment