I mentioned briefly about your nervous system and want to delve a little bit deeper into how it gets information from your brain to your muscles and vis versa. The nervous system consists of 2 parts brain and nerves and we can break that down again and your spinal cord and the brain make up the central nervous system, all communications in your body run through these two pieces whether it be a commands or feedback. Quickly we are going to go over the autonamic and somatic nervous systems and the tremedous amount of work they do in our everyday lives.
Your spinal cord houses the Autonomic nervous system which operates largely below the level of consciousness and conveys messages from all of the organs in our chest, abdomen and pelvis. For example, it manages our “fight and flight” responses (adreinal glands), our “rest and digest” responses. It looks after the automatic activities of our heart and blood vessels and plays an important part in sexual response and bladder control.
The somatic system is the part of the peripheral nervous system that is responsible for carrying motor and sensory information both to and from the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). This system is made up of nerves that connect to the skin, sensory organs and all skeletal muscles. The system is responsible for nearly all voluntary muscle movements as well as for processing sensory information that arrives via external stimuli including hearing, touch and sight. This is odviously the one we consciously use in crossfit and everyday life. This is the nervous system that is also being 'warmed up' when we are doing pre-WOD warm ups. Just like muscles before you can exert maximal load or high intensity functional movements we as humans need to wake up our nervous system and prime it for these activities.
So what does all this hoopla mean? This means your nervous systems are complex and just like anything else needs to be trained and also need rest. If you try to max out your back squat every day for 3 weeks your will probably never see improvement. That isn't to say your muscles are not getting stronger but your nervous system in all its complexity may be having issues copping with the strain your are placing upon it. Just like your muscles your nervous system needs to be warmed up too and can get tired after hard work. This is why getting 8-9 hours of sleep is so important yor not just giving your muscles a break your are also letting your nervous system recouperate as well. Your take away from this is, its not just your muscles that have to do the work it is also your mind and nerves. If you are frustrated with a movement and it just isn't happening for you take a moment clear your mind, let your muscles relax and take a few slow controled breaths and than try again.
