Subtlety of Movement

This post was inspired by my new "bodybuilding" program which has provided me not only with new information and knowledge but a whole new insight into DOMS! (delayed onset muscle soreness).

Competing in a fitness show is obviously aesthetic, so obtaining muscular symmetry is a primary goal. Meaning, I will have to readdress muscle imbalances and motor patterns built up over years of doing sport. This is going to be no easy feat which I realised was going to take a bit more focus and thought than just going through the motions and tuning into my ipod. For most of the exercises in my program, the eccentric portion is performed to a fairly slow tempo to increase time under tension of muscle. This slower tempo of training is very different to my default and love of doing high speed training. It was quite novel to me but being mindful of small adjustments and manipulations of body positions make a real difference to muscle recruitment and where you feel a muscle being worked. There are numerous examples of this, but one familiar to most is the toes over knees argument in squatting and lunge patterns. In one such study, a comparison of performing a squat either restricted (knees in line with toes) or unrestricted (allowing freedom of knees to move past toes) showed the restricted pattern reduced the knee torque but significantly increased hip angle torque, showing that force has to go somewhere i.e into hip and lumbar spine regions (Fry et al, 2003).

There is also a nice article called "The myth of core stability" that debunks a few assumptions about how we view core stability. One good point made through example is, for instance if you want to get food to mouth, it doesn't occur by consciously instructing each muscle to activate from hand to forearm to bicep etc, the central nervous system recruits an unconscious pattern of recruitment that makes that happen. Most unconscious movement occurs in this way and not in a muscle-by-muscle recruitment pattern. The question then is can you offset that motor pattern (engram) by making that movement more conscious or "pre-tensing" muscle groups that you want to work. In fact an age old trick used by body builders is to pre tense muscle groups before lifting. Whether that translates to high velocity movement patterns like the clean or the snatch, in all honesty I'm unsure of. So, by being conscious and slowing down tempo, is it easier to re-learn new motor patterns and therefore address muscle imbalances. We'll see!

There are many ways to re-learn movement depending on the goal. In my observations of runners and coaching running efficiency, I believe there are many components to this, but one which seems to resonate with me and just make sense is to put the individual in the optimum biomechanical position for them to take advantage of natural reflexes in the body such as the stumble reflex and inversion-extension reflex. In addition to taking advantage of reflexes, making running more elastic by training the musculo-tendinous unit (MTU), also makes sense. Tendon research is a whole other area but effectively understanding tendons, energy dissipation and hysteresis (energy lost between stretch and recoil), muscles and the joints they work around and how that applies to the chosen sport is a starting point for designing any good S&C program. A lot of my understanding of tendons has come from reading Ralph Brandon's work. For example, in high speed running or hill running, the hip goes from about -20deg at toe off to +95deg at point of greatest hip flexion. This large range of motion requires a compliant tendon. A compliant tendon means it can be stretched easily with little force but of course it also recoils with less force. If the tendon is too compliant relative to muscle, it will also end up doing more "work" because that is the component that will stretch more relative to the muscle, hence the risk of developing high hamstring issues, something I understand very well! The point of all this...... is subtle manipulations of body parts can really emphasise or de-emphasise different patterns of muscle recruitment as I am finding out.

Again to use running as an example, pelvic movement follows an oscillation pattern, where movement will occur in both the frontal and the transverse planes. The pelvis acts like a lever, moving according to the contraction of muscle groups that attach to it. To eliminate confusion by lack of diagrams!! I shall summarise by saying that this lever action allows a certain degree of pre-tension to build up in muscles that attach to it such as the hamstrings thus allowing an individual to take advantage of reflexes and stretch shortening cycle (SSC) and therefore efficiency of movement. So in this way, very subtle manipulations of muscles and joints can reorganise muscle recruitment and whole body movements. Just a thought.......


References: 

Bosch. F and Klomp, R. (2005). Running: Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology applied in Practice. Philadelphia: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone.

Fry, A.C., Smith. J.C and Schilling, B.K. (2003). Effect of knee position on hip and knee torques during the barbell squat. Journal strength and Conditioning Research. 17(4). pp 629-633.

Lederman., E (2010). The myth of Core stability. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, 14, pp84-98.

Tendon Strength Training: Performance benefits of optimising both components of your muscle tendon units, 2003. Raphael Brandon, available at: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/tendon-strength-training-7