FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Hey Scott


Thanks very much for the advice. Finally hit the gym today after being sick for the last week and a half.


Felt great to be back in the gym. Took your advice lowered the weights a little bit and focused on controlling the negative portion of the reps also on machine movements kept fighting against the weight on the last failure rep for a good 5-8 seconds until the weight slowly and gradually forced me to lower it under control - good stuff.


I had a quick question regarding "feeling" a muscle during a movement.

A muscle has a point of origin and a point of insertion. It therefore has a very specific function of moving about a joint. Therefore; even if we don't "feel" a muscle during a movement isn't it impossible for us to do a certain movement without involving certain muscle groups i.e. During barbell rows even if you don't "feel" the lats it's impossible to row the weight without the lays pulling your arms back?

From a scientific point isn't there an inevitable mind muscle connection ie nervous system signaling the muscles to move the weight?


Appreciate your thoughts and inputs


Best

Joshua

Hey Bud,

Glad that's working for you.

Regarding your question - this is an oversimplification in terms of muscle architecture and types of movements.

• Not all muscles are fusiform with a single point of insertion and origin (e.g. the pecs are pennate).

• Not all movement involve just one muscle as a prime mover or mover that alls a particular movement / exercise to be carried out.

You could paralyze the biceps brachii and still perform elbow flexion using the brachialis and brachioradialis, for instance. Hamstring curls could be performed without an attached / activated semitendinosus.

Practically speaking, though, for a given movement there will be some activation of that musculature, so it's a matter of extent and pattern of activation, as well as the loading that comes bout due to (musculoskeletal) biomechanics particular to that individual.

Put VERY simply - "feeling" a muscle is a matter of mechano and metabo-receptor activation (with some input from joint prioprioceptors playing a role in carrying out the movement through it's range of motion). SO, if the muscle is loaded (mechano) and undergoing metabolic stress from doing work (metabo) then you would feel it.

-S