Would you like to improve efficiency in your muscles? Do your muscles fatigue easily? Do you experience a prolonged duration of fatigue (more than 2 days) after a workout?
Do you feel like there is a lack of efficiency and strength in your muscles? Do you feel tight or are limited in range of motion?
Did you know that you may lack strength in your body and muscles because they are unable to return to full resting length, therefore unable to contract fully, when you invite them to engage?
There is a huge misconception in the movement rehabilitation industry that we need to strengthen, strengthen, strengthen our muscles more, all the time. The truth is that our ability to contract and release our muscles comes from messages sent down from the brain.
Have you had the experience of working harder and attempting to strengthen, but you do not feel like you are getting stronger?
Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA)
Muscles at rest should be at relative rest or in “continuous partial contraction” in order to support and maintain upright posture. When muscles at rest are overly contracted, they use vital energy needed elsewhere in the body and the pattern of one muscle or chain of muscles resting in over contraction leads to full body reflex patterns and health symptoms when they are unaddressed over time.
When we have lost the ability to voluntarily control the contraction and release of some or all of our muscles we say we experience Sensory Motor Amnesia (SMA). SMA affects the sensory motor neurons of the cortex of the brain. Muscles held in partial to full contraction over and above their natural resting tonus result in:
Muscular soreness and joint pain
A lack of efficiency in execution of the muscle in our activities
A lack of strength
Inefficient or compensatory movement due to a lack of communication with the cortex of the brain and other muscles
Constant nervous system imbalance and energy drain
Postural changes
Improper walking and load transfer patterns that lead to joint problems, arthritis, bulged disks, plantar fasciitis etc.
So what if you change your approach, starting by first ensuring that your muscles are at their optimal length at rest? This will improve efficiency in your muscles.
Pandiculation
We do this by using a technique discovered by Thomas Hanna, called Pandiculation.
The technique simply and efficiently engages the muscle through active participation of the brain, moving the muscle into contraction and then out of contraction to complete rest.
The technique is a simple three-step process:
1) A conscious contraction,
2) A conscious decrease in the level of contraction or conscious lengthening, and
3) The complete release and relaxation of the muscle, imprinting the felt sense of the muscle at rest.
Somatic Cool Down/Somatic Warm-Up
Why not consider a somatic cool down after your workout? Or somatic pre-exercise warm-up? This is a sure fire way to increase efficiency in your muscles.
Ready to get started?
Head to our YouTube Channel and start exploring Arch and Flatten, Arch and Curl and the Back Lift.