Central Nervous System Activation to Improve Workouts

The role of the central nervous system (CNS) in resistance training is often overlooked but is crucial for maximizing performance and reducing injury risks. This phenomenon has more to do with your neural drive and “muscle memory” than it has to do with your true potential physical abilities. Training your CNS to wake up and pay attention can increase the likelihood that you will develop a solid mind-muscle connection and the muscle memory that will carry forward into your future training.

How to Activate Your CNS for Resistance Training

After all of the scientific background behind the central nervous system’s role in training, it may seem daunting to put it into practice. However, activating your CNS before resistance training is fairly straightforward and is neither time-consuming nor difficult.

Perform a General Warm-Up

The first step is to perform a general warm-up. General warm-ups should use large muscle groups and be of low intensity. You do not want to exhaust yourself before you have begun the actual work. A general warm-up provides the following benefits to prepare your CNS (and entire body) for work:

– Increases blood flow
– Enhances nerve impulse speed
– Increases nutrient delivery to working muscles
– Removes metabolic by-products faster
– Facilitates the release of oxygen from hemoglobin and myoglobin
– Warms muscles, so they contract more effectively, leading to increased force production
– Lowers joints’ resistance to flow via increased synovial fluid uptake (joint lubrication)
– Increases joint range of motion
– Improves joint resiliency
– Reduces risk of injury

Performing a general warm-up is simple. Any aerobic activity will work, so choose anything you prefer. This can be the use of a rowing machine, elliptical trainer, stair climber, treadmill, or performing bodyweight movements such as light jumping jacks or jogging in place. Adding some dynamic movements with bodyweight will further help you ramp up in preparation for more explosive movements. Stick to an exertion rating of between 5 to 6, which is akin to a moderate-paced walk or slow jog.

Sample Dynamic Warm-Up

Here is an example of a dynamic warm-up:
– 30 seconds of skips
– 30 seconds of hops
– 30 seconds of squat jumps
– 30 seconds of right power kicks
– 30 seconds of left power kicks
– 30 seconds of plank tucks

Incorporate Explosive Movements

Explosive movements can excite and prepare your CNS for lifting weights, especially if they are heavy, use multiple muscle groups, and therefore require a lot of neural activity and force production. Plyometric exercises are an excellent example of this. You can streamline your warm-up by performing explosive actions that correspond with the body parts and muscle groups you will be training in that session.

Tips for Explosive Warm-Ups

Here are some tips to make the most of your explosive warm-up:
– Choose a movement that corresponds with the main body part being trained.
– Perform the exercise before your set and/or in between sets.
– Keep the warm-up movement brief so that you do not fatigue the muscle.
– Use maximal effort during the movement.
– Try performing two sets of 3 to 5 reps per body part being worked that session.

Another way to prime your CNS for action is to approach your maximum effort on a lift. However, this method is riskier for beginners and should only be performed if you have a spotter and are an experienced lifter.

A Word From Verywell

Warming up your body helps prepare you for the work ahead. Activating your central nervous system will boost your performance by increasing motor neuron recruitment and engaging your sympathetic nervous system so you can better handle the physical stressors ahead. Although this process may seem complex, priming your nervous system is as simple as warming up with some light aerobic activity before performing some explosive movements that wake up the muscles being worked. Try this strategy before your next workout to see increased performance and reduced injury risks. The Rise of Virtual Reality in Everyday Life

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