Christian,
Total nerd question, but I just started with the Russian Strength skill after doing traditional bodybuilding training the last couple of months. I notice that my muscles feel “tighter,” for lack of a better word, even while at rest. Not that I’m complaining at all, but what causes this?
And just to add to my question, I’ve lifted heavy for a long time and only recently went back to traditional bodybuilding movements with moderate weights. I guess I never noticed the tight feeling before until I transitioned from bodybuilding style back to your style of lifting.
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
Christian,
Total nerd question, but I just started with the Russian Strength skill after doing traditional bodybuilding training the last couple of months. I notice that my muscles feel “tighter,” for lack of a better word, even while at rest. Not that I’m complaining at all, but what causes this?[/quote]
Increased myogenic tone.
Basically your nervous system keeps the muscles in a partial state of tension even at rest. This is a characteristic of individuals with an efficient nervous system. It will also only show when your nervous system is efficient AND working optimally (not fatigued)… having your muscles go soft all of a sudden is a good sign of CNS overload
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
Christian,
Total nerd question, but I just started with the Russian Strength skill after doing traditional bodybuilding training the last couple of months. I notice that my muscles feel “tighter,” for lack of a better word, even while at rest. Not that I’m complaining at all, but what causes this?[/quote]
Increased myogenic tone.
Basically your nervous system keeps the muscles in a partial state of tension even at rest. This is a characteristic of individuals with an efficient nervous system. It will also only show when your nervous system is efficient AND working optimally (not fatigued)… having your muscles go soft all of a sudden is a good sign of CNS overload [/quote]
Thanks for the explanation. I’m a big fan of efficiency, lol.
So, would an efficient nervous system then explain why I feel I can do more sets of low reps and feel better than when I do higher rep training? Sometimes with high reps, towards the end of a set, I feel like I’m “phoning it in.”
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
Christian,
Total nerd question, but I just started with the Russian Strength skill after doing traditional bodybuilding training the last couple of months. I notice that my muscles feel “tighter,” for lack of a better word, even while at rest. Not that I’m complaining at all, but what causes this?[/quote]
Increased myogenic tone.
Basically your nervous system keeps the muscles in a partial state of tension even at rest. This is a characteristic of individuals with an efficient nervous system. It will also only show when your nervous system is efficient AND working optimally (not fatigued)… having your muscles go soft all of a sudden is a good sign of CNS overload [/quote]
Thanks for the explanation. I’m a big fan of efficiency, lol.
So, would an efficient nervous system then explain why I feel I can do more sets of low reps and feel better than when I do higher rep training? Sometimes with high reps, towards the end of a set, I feel like I’m “phoning it in.”
[/quote]
When you are neurally efficient you can recruit and involve more muscle fibers in each repetition. As a results these fibers will fatigue faster and doing higher reps is harder.
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
Christian,
Total nerd question, but I just started with the Russian Strength skill after doing traditional bodybuilding training the last couple of months. I notice that my muscles feel “tighter,” for lack of a better word, even while at rest. Not that I’m complaining at all, but what causes this?[/quote]
Increased myogenic tone.
Basically your nervous system keeps the muscles in a partial state of tension even at rest. This is a characteristic of individuals with an efficient nervous system. It will also only show when your nervous system is efficient AND working optimally (not fatigued)… having your muscles go soft all of a sudden is a good sign of CNS overload [/quote]
Thanks for the explanation. I’m a big fan of efficiency, lol.
So, would an efficient nervous system then explain why I feel I can do more sets of low reps and feel better than when I do higher rep training? Sometimes with high reps, towards the end of a set, I feel like I’m “phoning it in.”
[/quote]
When you are neurally efficient you can recruit and involve more muscle fibers in each repetition. As a results these fibers will fatigue faster and doing higher reps is harder.[/quote]
I seem to remember, now, you talking about that before. I think, sometimes, good info gets pushed out of my brain by a bunch of other crap!
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
[quote]BigIron77 wrote:
Christian,
Total nerd question, but I just started with the Russian Strength skill after doing traditional bodybuilding training the last couple of months. I notice that my muscles feel “tighter,” for lack of a better word, even while at rest. Not that I’m complaining at all, but what causes this?[/quote]
Increased myogenic tone.
Basically your nervous system keeps the muscles in a partial state of tension even at rest. This is a characteristic of individuals with an efficient nervous system. It will also only show when your nervous system is efficient AND working optimally (not fatigued)… having your muscles go soft all of a sudden is a good sign of CNS overload [/quote]
Thanks for the explanation. I’m a big fan of efficiency, lol.
So, would an efficient nervous system then explain why I feel I can do more sets of low reps and feel better than when I do higher rep training? Sometimes with high reps, towards the end of a set, I feel like I’m “phoning it in.”
[/quote]
When you are neurally efficient you can recruit and involve more muscle fibers in each repetition. As a results these fibers will fatigue faster and doing higher reps is harder.[/quote]
I seem to remember, now, you talking about that before. I think, sometimes, good info gets pushed out of my brain by a bunch of other crap!
[/quote]
Tell me about it, I rediscover stuff all the times and feel super smart until I realize that I used it in the past 
BigIron,
Just to add to your observation, I also switched to a bodybuilding program (focus on constant tension, metabolic stress, etc.) for six weeks, and even though I gained solid mass found that I did not look nearly as hard, for lack of a better description.
After starting the RSS program my muscles also feel much tighter/dense, and I can “feel” the increased CNS efficiency, like at any moment I am ready to explode from 0 to 60. It’s crazy how you feel the difference this type of training has, but only after dropping out for awhile and reintroducing it.
[quote]frauls5015 wrote:
BigIron,
Just to add to your observation, I also switched to a bodybuilding program (focus on constant tension, metabolic stress, etc.) for six weeks, and even though I gained solid mass found that I did not look nearly as hard, for lack of a better description.
After starting the RSS program my muscles also feel much tighter/dense, and I can “feel” the increased CNS efficiency, like at any moment I am ready to explode from 0 to 60. It’s crazy how you feel the difference this type of training has, but only after dropping out for awhile and reintroducing it. [/quote]
frauls,
That’s funny you say that about feeling like you’re ready to explode. I noticed the same thing and feel, again, for lack of a better term, “faster.” Maybe, more able to react quickly. I’m sure it’s the CNS activation.