[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
but part of a confluence of factors, determined by:
*Spinal reflexes - you can of course practice something so much that it becomes hardwired in action, once initiated and this reduces tone by removing competitive/antagonistic muscle activity, meaning the agonist needs to ‘fight’ less. You can see this in the way that a true expert makes something look easy, ie. they are relaxed whilst performing complex tasks. It has become ‘second nature’ and so there is no conflicting activity in the neuromusculoskeletal system, unlike a beginner who is said to be ‘all fingers and thumbs’, lol.
*Mental alertness as set by neuronal activity in the reticular activating system of the midbrain. This affects posture and hence resting muscle tone, particularly in postural muscles.
*Physical ‘alertness’, i.e. the ‘fight or flight’ response to stress or threat. Hyperstimulation will dull pain sensations, but will also over-recruit the muscles, resulting in abberant movement patterns. Hence the term “there is nothing to fear, but fear itself” since ‘fear’, i.e. too much adrenaline makes clumsy clowns of us all.
Hydration and nutrition tend to play more of a role in how efficiently the muscle contracts (and relaxes), once contraction has been initiated, BTW.
And no, I cannot measure resting electrical activity in skeletal muscle, though my fingers and other observational tools may give insight into hypertonicity and/or flaccidity. Spinal reflexes (eg the way the leg twitches when you hit the patella ligament) can indicate resting tonus, but are not specific to muscle tone, since it’s possible to have really hard to eleicit reflexes (like me, lol) with a very ‘toned’ quadricep or other muscle.
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I have given some thought to what you said. I cannot see how my problem can be properly addressed.
It has occurred to me that my shortened soleus/Achillis tendon has not resulted from high heels but rather my sports background.
I trained 4 hours a day, 6 days a week from the age of 9 to 13. Even during rest at the wall I was at the deep end and my feet in constant plantar flexion in the water. Pre-competition we used to train with a t-shirt on top of the swimsuit and metal chains around our bodies to add drag and resistance - in such intense training conditions me feet were not only in plantar flexion but powerfully so to ensure a sustained kick to maintain buoyancy ( metal does not float at all and the pressure was on to stay buoyant so more recruitment of plantar flexion ).
Trained to be as streamlined as possible also increased my awareness of ‘plantar flexion’ at all times.
Before my competitive swimming I was constantly in the water as I grew up on the beach and always by a pool.
After my swimming I took up body boarding and would spend 4 to 6 hours a day both days on the weekend surfing; in the water with flippers on in plantar flexion position.
I sleep belly down with my feet in plantar flexion position.
I have had my V shape from the age of 11. I hit puberty during intense swimming training. My development has been affected by this as I have been unable to undo the changes my V shape caused in my anatomy. It has dictated the positioning of my breasts and shoulder blades - no matter how low in BF, and I have lost breast tissue from a healthy cup B to a AAA, I will not fit in many bras, and bikini tops due to the way swimming shaped my upper body. My front delts always stick out larger than the back. In these structural changes I have never gotten any smaller and I can easily get bigger.
Given that I developed in a plantar flexed position from childhood and even sleep in that way I cannot see any way in which I can stretch or change my angle flexibility and that is why I think I experience so much pain when trying to “relax” it. I honestly feel if pushed it is just going to tear. If that is the case for my ‘problem’ then the subsequent adaptations caused by this development will have to remain the same to compensate.
So maybe I am not tight in that area but rather structurally changed by excessive pre puberty training.
