FT Questions....

[Kabhattacharya]

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

Dr S

As always I'm humbled by the sheer vastness of your knowledge. Understand the compensatory role non primary movers can play - hence feeling a muscle is important

One technique that worked pretty well for me on chest today (I never touch the bar to my chest - hurts my shoulders although extreme stretching has helped me increase my bottom range of motion significantly) - so I did a 2-3 second negative on each rep paused at the bottom and then almost consciously exploded up to the top while trying to squeeze my chest - definitely felt it work a helluva lot more than just piston pumping reps.

If I'm not wrong I recall Dante giving Dusty similar advice to bring up his legs ie pause at the bottom to ensure that the muscle you're targeting is actually doing the work, and if I'm not wrong I believe brooks kubik also recommends dead stop bench press to actually build pushing power and work the chest.


All the best

Joshua