Try this as an experiment: perform any muscular movement with your eyes closed, very slowly and with focus.
It is quite likely that you will be able to feel the contraction begin closer to one end and progress during the movement to the other end.
Hence the title, Directionality of Muscles.
Why is this important? (Part 1)
From a muscle loading perspective, during a movement the resistance curve varies, which leads to a certain muscular profile over the length of the muscle. The cool thing would be, if we actively focus on the the directionality of the contraction, we can load the muscle differently. This manipulation can be used to compensate for uneven muscular development.
To be clear, this not something that needs to be worried about in the beginning of learning any movement; or perhaps ever for some people!!!
So what does this all mean:
- Over a sufficiently long period of muscular development gaps may be noticed where part of a muscle is lagging, then this kind of modification comes into play
- Given enough variety of equipment, these deficiencies can also be addressed
- But especially where equipment is scarce, this technique can be invaluable
- The Mind Body Connection which is developed, improves also the neural connectivity, so movements are not done in a machine-like manner to move a weight, but consciously
- Where imbalanced development is taking place, injuries are likelier to happen
- More useful for development on longer muscle structures e.g. hamstrings
Summary
Maybe this sounds like voodoo/snake oil etc. etc. Give it a go, maybe you will be surprised!!
I can only say that I have used this myself and taught others who have been with me for a sufficiently long time, with noticeable results.
The directionality of muscles may be something that you have felt many times. The next step is to realise that it can in fact be manipulated consciously with a little practise.
