Started by Karl Kallio, March 10, 2012 · 14 Replies · 5,655 Views
So I've been reading a lot of threads that talk about taxing the CNS and recovery time. But what situations tax the CNS?
Is it when a workout is perceived as hard for some reason and requires a lot of character/motivation to complete? Or is it when some novel movement is being trained for the first time and a greater deal of propriokinaesthetic concentration is required? Or is it when an already established movement pattern is being altered (or defined into 2 related movement patterns)?
synchroGENized said:So I've been reading a lot of threads that talk about taxing the CNS and recovery time. But what situations tax the CNS?
Situations like working out to failure, not to sleep correctly, not to rest enough, and even not no eat correctly... hope Slizz may come here to clear any doubt
What does not tax your CNS? Daily stress, classes for those in school, decision making etc....anything cognitive will cause some CNS fatigue, now this form of central neural fatigue is usually fairly easy to recover from and we don't really think about it.
Now training introduces extra fatigue. Heavier/Higher Tension loads require a greater neural response in order to perform them. More muscles/muscle fibers(if you will) used require increased activity in motor neurons. This causes and whole cascade of effects throughout the body. The CNS is involved in coordinating the recovery of all these systems while also trying to maintain homeostasis.
This topic can be very in depth and confusing and honestly there is not really a need for most people to analyze and worry about it. Pay attention to your body, address aches and pains if they come up. If you find yourself frequently tired then take a look, are you eating right? Did you recently change your training? Has your sleep pattern changed?....Insomnia and/or lack of appetite are easy to notice signs.
Could type pages on this subject but don't over think it.
The nervous system uses about 20% of the bodies available glucose and oxygen, that fact alone tells just how important it is in strength work. Without the CNS nothing happens.
Nic,
I just had a similar experience. Although my nutrition has been very, very good recently (all according to slizzardman's recommendations that helped me immensely), my muscles felt recovered and I had plenty of sleep, I still felt tired and less explosive during the last few training sessions. I guess it is because I just introduced twice-a-day training on one of my training days which my body was not yet used to.
What should you do to "heal" nervous system fatigue?
Is it enough to take a few days off until my muscles feel explosive again or should I take an entire week off (back off week)? what does science/your experience say?
I cannot really give you a concrete answer as it depends. It sounds like your fatigue levels are not to severe so a few days would be fine. Changes to a routine take some adaptation. Typically when you add in a two a day you need to lower the intensity some on both sessions. Give your body some time to adapt. You cannot expect to add another training session and be just as fresh. Lower the intensity a bit and give it a cycle to see how you do.
gastar91 said:Nic,
I just had a similar experience. Although my nutrition has been very, very good recently (all according to slizzardman's recommendations that helped me immensely), my muscles felt recovered and I had plenty of sleep, I still felt tired and less explosive during the last few training sessions. I guess it is because I just introduced twice-a-day training on one of my training days which my body was not yet used to.
What should you do to "heal" nervous system fatigue?
Is it enough to take a few days off until my muscles feel explosive again or should I take an entire week off (back off week)? what does science/your experience say?
Deload weeks definitely help recover the CNS. You can rest until you feel better just don't jump back into it and overload again. It takes time to build up work capacity. It took me about 5 weeks to acclimate to an additional hour in my schedule. 2- a days can be done but the volume should be handled a bit differently between the sessions. I don't have time to go into detail on how to schedule twice daily workouts but poliquin wrote up a nice post on it.
Proper nutrition will also help you recover from fatigue but the best thing is to get proper sleep and relax a bit between sessions. There is a lot going on hormonally that controls the activation patterns, but like Nick said no reason to go into the details of it when the the main points have been listed.
Also just a sidenote. Twice daily practices can be great for gains but use them very carefully. I did them for a while but due to constraints on time just couldn't get enough rest and food in to keep it up. I would literally pass out at night and started to get sick more often.
Take it slow. Honestly I would not recommend many people do this without the aid of a coach or the body of a 17 year old and a crapton of food and no stressors.
Thank you for the insight.
I'm slowly recovering after a few days of very light activity.
I will monitor my work capacity closely and build from there 
Hi man, i`ve doing twice per day workouts for 4 months or soBut .i`ve studied the CNV considering the fatigue caused to it in workouts.i think it`s better to talk about my own experience than write an imense text.In my experience, the best advice i can give you is: stay motived, your nutrition may be perfect, your muscles recovered but if u lose motivation you will burn out.The most offensive thing you can do to fatigue your CNS is do things you don`t like to do, not only working but in your daily life, so watch your activites , your routine and stay motived.
My results so far: i`ve gained about 5kg of muscle and lost abou 5kg of fat. I`m very muscular compared to before, and i`m still gaining muscle, and my brother too.
If u need help, ask me :-). Thanks
i remember what Coach Sommer said at all the seminars i've done. Olympic athletes train twice a day , if you are not one of them, you don't need 2 sessions in a day.
If the idea is split one workout into session is a different matter, if the goal is increase the stimulus, i've just answered to you.
Not quite what I said.
What I said was that while the majority of Olympians trained twice per day; there have also been other Olympians who trained only once per day, as well as still others who successfully trained three times per day. It all depends upon your individual recovery ability and what works best for you.
Yours in Fitness,
Coach Sommer
alex87, I am talking about a split routine into two sessions. Not another session for increasing stimulus. I understand that this additional stimulus is only necessary for very elite athletes.
But various trainers I hold in high esteem recommended trying it after having quite a few years of training under your belt (which I have). Also sleep, nutrition and time constraints are no issue for me at the moment.
See, you can believe me I have read all the threads in existence of poliquin and various others about the topic of twice a day training
They also show plans how to structure them without wrecking your CNS but here is the problem:
They are all about WEIGHTS.
I have seen no description on how to schedule bodyweight two-a-days. I dont want to go off topic too much but (although I am a layman on the scientific side) I think my CNS is holding me back.
I would really appreciate a sample workout or some recommendations anyone has to avoid this issue and make progress.
The initial way to try two a days is to take your normal session and cut it in half. So each session is essentially a half session and see how your body responds.
If you are working out twice a day on only one day, count you just divide and redistribute the exercises from the extra workout and attach them to your other sessions?