Most athletes train their muscles. The smart ones train their nervous system. If you want to move faster, lift heavier, and feel more explosive than ever, it’s time to go beyond brute strength. Nervous system training targets the real source of athletic power—your brain’s ability to fire muscles efficiently and at high speed. Here’s how to tap into it.
Joel Smith, MS, CSCS is a NCAA Division I Strength Coach working in the PAC12 conference. He has been a track and field jumper and javelin thrower, track coach, strength coach, personal trainer, researcher, writer and lecturer in his 8 years in the professional field.
Consider the following: pound for pound apes have double the strength of a human being.
They can also jump about 30-40% higher than top human jumpers, in addition to their superhuman leg power.
How is this possible given their similar amount of muscle mass?
Aside from longer, denser fibers, our simian friends also have an interesting piece of their brain and spinal cord that allows them stronger muscle contractions: less grey matter.
Having less grey matter (responsible for better motor control in humans, such as the ability to paint a painting or play guitar) allows apes to direct extremely powerful neural signals to their muscles, and thus allows their strength to be expressed.
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