Daily Maestroism

DM #324

Wednesday, April 12th, 2017

DM #324: Now don't get me wrong, there is absolutely a time and place for strength training, and you must have a base level of strength in order to function. But sometimes, just sometimes more weight (or cowbell) just isn't the answer.
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Neural drive refers to how well those tissues are connected to the nervous system. A.k.a. can those bad boys fire both reflexively and voluntarily when they're supposed to. Lengthened muscles tend to not have such great neural drive, while short, tight muscles tend to be too well-connected to the nervous system.
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So what does this mean? Well, when we're looking to restore function, which may also require improving strength, we need to make sure that the “muscles” we're trying to work on are actually being recruited at the appropriate time and intensity.
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How many times have you heard crossfitters with huge quads talk about their glutes being asleep when they squat? Well, first off, stop saying that, because they're not asleep. We're talking about a neural drive here. Those monster quads? Good neural drive. That teeny ? ? Not such great neural drive. If you can back squat 300 lbs, then we know for sure that both muscle groups work, we've just got to tune the dial, not turn up the volume.
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So, just consider the notion of neural drive and motor control the next time you want to say something is asleep, or if you find that strength training alone isn't changing firing patterns the way you want. Always ask why. NKT, MAT, RNT, PNF. Whatever acronym you want to use to figure out what's going on is fine by me. Just make sure you figure it out. Remember, more is not better. Better is better.
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