Neural Drive Training: The Missing Link in Female Muscle Hardness
Among the drop sets, supersets
, forced negatives, circuit training and countless other training techniques, the one element that makes all of these strategies possible is often the most overlooked. That element is neural drive and it could be just the technique that can take your body to the next level.
Part I. The Science
What is neural drive? A simple example is to look at the severely atrophied legs of a paraplegic. The lack of neural connection and the accompanying growth factors are the primary reasons for muscular atrophy. Although paralysis is an extreme case, the process is the same with non-paralyzed people in that a poor neural drive will negatively affect muscle metabolism, performance and ultimately how the muscle looks.
Muscle growth and development can only occur to the degree that they can receive adequate nerve energy. There are essential muscle growth factors that come along with having a powerful neural drive. Long term neural drive efficiency can only occur with a balanced nervous system as well as using the correct training technique. I'd like to discuss both of these factors but the majority of this article will discuss the training aspect of neural drive.
Here are the hard and fast benefits of Neural drive training:
Improves muscle fiber recruitment a.k.a. inter-muscular coordination
Strength is intimately connected to the ability to activate a large number of muscle fibers in a given activity. As muscle fiber recruitment increases so does strength, muscle quality and hardness. This process explains why some of the most successful bodybuilders were former powerlifters or other strength athletes. Veteran physique athletes inevitably attain higher levels of inter-muscular coordination from longevity of training. But with the right training the journey to muscle mastery can be cut in half in most cases.
Promotes the increase of muscle growth factors
World-renowned neurophysiologist Dr. Irvin Korr explained the power of neural drive when he said "For some tissues, most notably striated muscle, neurotrophic support is even essential for survival". In plain English this means your ability to achieve optimal shape, muscle tone and muscle hardness will be limited to the ability to bring sufficient nerve impulses to the muscle.
A powerful metabolic recovery technique
Bikini, figure, physique and bodybuilder athletes all suffer from metabolic fatigue (more so than men) during contest preparation. Neural drive training allows athletes to continue training at a high level while allowing the metabolism to recover and break through plateaus. Since most all pre-contest training and nutrition strategies are geared towards metabolic conditioning which involve depleting and reloading muscle glycogen stores, increasing lactic acid accumulation by increasing aerobic activity as well as high volume strength training, a neural drive phase done within a pre-contest training cycle will help prevent athletes from hitting metabolic plateaus at critical times during contest preparation. It will be a welcomed change that will reinvigorate an often physically and mentally fatigued pre-contest athlete.
Part II. The Strategy
"Trying to shape the body using light weight is akin to a sculptor trying to shape a slab of marble with a nail file." – Terrence Thomas
Fact or fiction? Lifting heavy will ruin a bikini or figure competitor's symmetry and proportion...
Absolute fiction. In fact, training intensity and training volume done within a hypertrophy training zone promotes muscle growth. Within this training zone, there is high myofibril (muscle fiber) damage and lactic acid accumulation. The super-compensation and recovery th
at occurs from both of these reactions is what's responsible for muscle growth. Training loads in the 80 to 100% 1RM zone done for 1 to 3 reps have been shown to increase neural drive without inducing a hypertrophy response. In other words the muscle is forced to contract really hard without stimulating a strong growth response.
There are many sports that use this technique very successfully such as powerlifters and Olympic weight lifting. All weight classes except for the super heavyweight division have to make weight therefore maximal strength and power must be achieved without gaining excessive weight. This is accomplished with high intensity, low volume training loads. The mandatory requirement to using this technique is that it does require a high level of skill.
Both intramuscular (muscle fiber recruitment) coordination and inter-muscular coordination (coordination between muscle groups) must be at a high level to safely and effectively use this technique with compound exercises. With that said, there are more user-friendly techniques that boost neural drive.
Neural Drive Guidelines
1. Choose compound exercises that can be done with perfect technique such as:
Conventional deadlifts
Barbell Squats
Military Barbell Press
Flat bench press
2. The second option is to choose isolation and or body weight exercises that encourage total body involvement and high force generation such as:
Standing barbell curls using slow strict form
Kettlebell Military Press
Kettlebell Turkish Get up
The 10-second push up
Eccentric Pull-ups
Swiss Ball Prone Pike
Eccentric only close grip bench press
Overhead farmer's carry/low farmers carry combo
Swiss Ball Leg curl/ w eccentric blast
Kneeling forward ball roll or ab wheel
Incline sit up
3. Bikini Competitor Guidelines
1-3 reps at 75-85% of 1RM on all big lifts. Time under tension 4-0-4. In other words, a four second lift, zero pause and four second lowering.
For stability or isometric neural drive work, the time under tension is to be between 15 and 45 seconds.
4. Figure and Physique Competitor Guidelines
1-5 reps at 85-100% of 1RM. Time under tension is 3-1-3
For stability or isometric neural drive work, the time under tension is to be between 10 and 30 seconds.
Putting it all Together
In addition to boosting natural testosterone levels, muscle hardness, muscle quality, and strength, neural drive training offers a great change of pace in the typical pre-contest training loads and volume. It can help prevent or break through plateaus before the big show or help make the improvements in the offseason that will take your package to the next level. Stay tuned for part 2 where you'll learn how to apply the neural drive technique to bring up lagging body parts and promote symmetry.
Terrence Thomas is a physique athlete coach and consultant and also specializes in corrective exercise, sports performance strength and conditioning, orthopedic rehab and correcting metabolic damage. For more information please email [email protected]
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