Different muscles need different stimulus. Are you training correctly?

Training and programme design are a form of art. No workout should ever be just a random selection of exercises to make you sweat and “feel good”. In fact, we take a thorough health and lifestyle history before recommending any exercise at all - for all of our individual clients. You may wonder why and whether it’s important at all. I will use the following example to try to paint a clearer picture as to why exercising in accordance with your lifestyle is key.

Imagine being a tennis player, your aim is to compete at Wimbledon. You need a good coach. You find one that has a reputation of being brilliant at what he does. You hire him despite the fact he’s a basketball coach, he’s a brilliant COACH after all. Your aspire to become a tennis players but train with a basketball coach, like a basketball player. Not an ideal pairing but sure - you needed a brilliant coach and got one.

Training is similar to my exaggerated example. Exercise is a very broad term that can be quite misleading. Different muscles have different responsibilities and a different make up. Your lifestyle, hobbies, the way you sleep and even how you commute matters when picking out the right exercises. Let’s deep dive and find out why exactly!

Muscles.

For the sake of keeping it simple and digestible let’s divide muscles into two groups: postural and phasic.

Postural muscles - act to maintain your posture, mostly slow twitch (can sustain a lot of effort, which being upright requires). Overusing patterns that involve these muscles (like your core/back muscle), can lead to altered posture. These muscles require different stimulus compared to the second group. Training would involve higher repetitions, slower tempo and plenty of control.

Phasic muscles - these guys allow more specific, precise and deliberate movement, mostly fast twitch, fatigue more easily and are prone to inhibition (moving poorly). Phasic muscles require different stimulus and injuries here can be more acute in nature. Lower repetition and heavier weights (relative to the size and function of the muscle) can provide better outcome, longer rest periods may be required for optimal recovery.

Tight.

How does a muscle get tight? All muscle have a tone to them. Muscle are neither flaccid nor continuously contracted (in a resting state). A tight muscle or more precisely - hypertonic muscle has too much tone to it. Tone refers to tension which is a pulling force of the muscle. Fun fact - when you lift weights your body has absolutely NO CLUE how much you’re actually lifting, what your muscles recognise is tension. The degree of tone of the muscle depends on the level of it’s contraction. Muscle can get “tight” globally or just form trigger points (which most people call knots).

Where am I going with this? We work with a lot of desk-bound professionals who commute to work in their cars. We’re looking at 8-10h spent in a seated position, daily. Postural muscles and the surrounding fascia get used to being in such position. This alters the balance between the front and the back of the body. Considering these simple facts, allows us to develop training plans that restore the balance and prevent (or even reverse) the postural damage.

Relationship between phasic and postural muscles.

Postural muscles (purple) shorten - this is when a muscle can be considered “tight”.
Phasic muscles (green) lengthen by getting weak.

The relationship here is very close and simple; purple muscle shorten and pulls (lengthening) the green muscle causing discomfort. Imagine looking down at the phone at a ridiculous angle, the two ends of the muscle at the front of your neck will get really close together. Simultaneously, muscles at the back, which work as antagonists will have to give way to allow for the chin/head to drop - this is where the green muscle gets longer/weak. Holding this position for several minutes/hours/months will undoubtedly lead to pain.

Pattern of injury/bad posture.

It looks like this:

Bad posture/faulty loading —> shortening of postural muscles (purple) —> lengthening of phasic muscles (green) —> change in your movement patterns —> overloading of your musculoskeletal (muscles, bones, attachments etc) system —> pain/injury —> development of the compensation pattern —> bad posture/faulty loading —> ON WE GO, again, and again, and again, the pattern repeats itself and becomes a loop.

This post details one of many considerations that need to be made when designing a training plan. Using my previous example - a tennis player won’t benefit from practicing basketball with a basketball coach. Train cleverly, don’t do it for the sake of getting sweaty. Sauna will have the same effect and is probably more enjoyable too.

“For professionals, from professionals”.

Jake Nalepa