Neuro-what connection??

mrp56839

Is this a real thing? Or is my PT putting me through repetitive failings purely for the entertainment factor?

nossmf

Yes. And no, not for pure entertainment factor. (That's just a side bonus.)

Think about asking a football team to try a play they've never attempted before. At first things will be quite chaotic, but with practice and repetition the guys will begin to get better and better at executing the coach's demands. Did they get stronger? Possibly, but the vast majority of improvement will come simply from becoming more familiar with the play, setting your feet at exactly this angle to the ground, trusting the other guys to do their jobs so you can concentrate on just your assignment, etc.

Same thing happens with your muscles. When you want your muscles to move, your brain sends a signal for the appropriate muscles to contract. When your muscle cells receive that signal, they obey. The first few times you attempt this sequence of events, the efficiency will vary by person. But as you continue to demand the same sequence, your body will quickly figure out the exact intensity of nerve signal, which nerves to use, sensitivity to expect these strange messages, everything. You'll find you can lift more, either heavier or for more reps, not because you instantly became stronger but because your body is obeying directions better.

This is the source of the "newbie gains" phenomenon, where people new to lifting are setting new personal records seemingly every time they enter the gym. But there's only so much your body can improve efficiency, so eventually these gains slow down and are now being driven by becoming actually stronger.

Even experienced lifters go through this process when they try doing something new, for instance starting Olympic lifting for the first time, or when I started pulling deadlifts after three years of lifting.

mrp56839

Thanks, that kinda that makes sense. Is that what the goal is through functional training? to make more movements more natural?

I guess I ask because I'm really struggling with my power cleans - I can't get the rack position right consistently - and he keeps telling me that the more we do them (he continues to correct me every time I get it wrong, so he's definitely not condoning my bad form), the easier/better it'll be because "we're trying to build connections and how it feels" so that the moves become more automatic.

In the meantime, I'm frustrated. I want to learn the lift (because it IS pretty badass), but it's like there's a wall between my brain and my body that I'm unsuccessfully trying to climb over, dig under or run around.... I don't know if it's a wall built by a lack of confidence or a lack of "connection." Or maybe both...?

ferocityturbine

I'd say you have a really good PT there. The constant correction and repetition is what's important as you can just as easily make the connections to the wrong movement pattern which is much much harder to unlearn.