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Zillagreybeard 4 years, 7 months ago.
CNS FATIGUE: PRACTICAL TIPS ON HOW TO MITIGATE IT
Discussion in 'Training' started by Zillagreybeard, Mar 12, 2021.You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
DeusChem replied 4 months, 3 weeks ago
Kristenmitchell replied 4 months, 3 weeks ago
DominicThomas replied 5 months, 1 week ago
CNS FATIGUE: PRACTICAL TIPS ON HOW TO MITIGATE IT
A very important post that really shows (at least in my opinion) why lifters should focus more on strength training-type workouts, rather than chasing endless volume (which seems to be the trend lately).
CNS Fatigue is real, and actually measurable, and what it does is prevent high threshold motor units to be recruited: these are the motor units that govern thousands of muscle fibers, which grow through strength training. [1]
💡Now, for this post to make sense you need to keep two things in mind. In order for hypertrophy to occur:
1) There has to be full motor unit recruitment of the muscle fibers. This can be achieved with light, moderate and heavy loads.
2) Each muscle fiber has to contract at a slow enough speed in order to exert a high level of force, explained by the force-velocity relationship.
With that said, here are some practical tips you should follow, to maximize your training results:
1️⃣ Since CNS fatigue naturally increases as we train, it makes sense to give priority to the heavy work first in order to maximize the hypertrophic stimulus induced by training. Focus on heavy compound exercises at the beginning of the workout.
2️⃣ Rest more between sets. As we’ve seen in a previous post studies show that resting more between set allows for greater muscle gains. Starting the set too soon, if in a fatigued state, wouldn’t allow high threshold motor units to be recruited. This won’t allow effective work to be done. [2]
3️⃣ Most people think that CNS fatigue is related to heavy strength training, however, that’s likely not the case [3]. High volume/muscle damaging session that require several days to recover from, seem to induce more CNS fatigue [4].
Because of this, doing a lot of working volume in a single session can end up not producing enough “effective work” since it reduces the ability to recruit high threshold muscle fibers.
Therefore, spreading your total volume (10-20 working sets per muscle group) throughout the week might be a better idea.