A client asked me this last week, and this is how I answered. This client’s workouts have some specific requirements that were customized to this client’s goals, but everything else about the answer—concentric, eccentric, intramuscular coordination—applies to EVERYONE.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Every movement you do is comprised of three methods of contraction. Days one, two, and three of your workouts are the same movements, but a different mode of contraction is emphasized on each day respectively.
I know you don’t like the slow count, but that’s necessary, regardless of neurotyping. The slow count is on the eccentric, the lengthening/stretching of a muscle. Although you are stronger on the eccentric (way down) than the concentric (when you lift a weight), the soreness comes from the eccentric. Why?
The way your body lifts a weight on the concentric, the lift, is two-fold: 1. It starts recruiting more muscle fibers; 2. If that’s not enough, it increases your firing rate (how fast your brain sends pulses to your muscles to contract).
The way down, the eccentric, is different. Your brain recruits FEWER muscle fibers (but only the most powerful kind), and because of that, the same load is dispersed over fewer muscle fibers! Example: if 100 muscle fibers helped you lift 100# on the weight up, only 50 muscle fibers are handling 100# on the way down.
Because of this,
1. The eccentric creates more damage to the muscle fibers = you are more sore.
2. Intramuscular coordination is more difficult. In our example, those 50 muscle fibers have to learn to work together to do the job of 100. Less efficiency = more damage = you are more sore.
With time, your intramuscular coordination will improve, and you’ll be less sore. It will always create more damage to your muscles fibers, a la point 1, but the better your intramuscular coordination gets, the less sore you’ll be.
It’s ironic because you can argue that, at the end of the day, the concentric, the lift, is the most important aspect of performance. However, the eccentric is actually the most important and true key to maximizing strength and maximizing your concentric. Everything works together.
Now you see why it’s so ridiculous when people use soreness as a gauge to an effective workout.
If we go do ANYTHING new, where our bodies don’t yet have the intra- or intermuscular coordination, we will be sore. Zumba, body pump, hula hoop, dance class, a new met con class, ANYTHING.
The concentric-only workout you enjoyed = virtually no soreness. Same for your current day three. Does that make them ineffective? Absolutely not.
Different processes need to take place in your body to achieve results. Some of the processes result in soreness, others do not. Sore simply = not yet the best intramuscular coordination.
It doesn’t even have to be a new movement. You could go up 10# on your squat, and now you’re super sore. Your muscles did not internally (intra) develop the best strategy yet to work together to lift that weight = sore. Within a couple weeks, or less (depending on how quickly your body adapts), that soreness is gone.
About the author
Chris Rombola
Chris is the owner of Fit House. He's run the training departments at several commercial gyms, and after years of seeing how awful those environments were for his clients, he opened his own studio. He is devoted to getting people strong, lean, and healthy.
Recent Comments