Start IRRADIATING from the inside out to optimize your ability to express your strength.
Sir Charles Sherrington’s discovery at the turn of the 20th century of the integrative actions of the nervous system is a very simple yet extremely effective way to instantly increase your ability to stabilize and express your physical strength. Simply put, when you contract one muscle the neighboring muscles begin contracting and irradiating tension from the point of contraction. There are lots of ways to apply this so, for the sake of simplicity I will give you a few practical applications.
First, test it out for yourself: Start by making a fist with only a 10% contraction, now contract 20%, now 30%, you will see or feel the contraction moving up your forearm into your bicep and if you continue increasing the % until you’re at 100% contraction in the fist you will notice the nervous system has contracted up into the shoulder, chest, and if you’re really good it will creep into your abdominals. Like everything, the more you do it the better you get at it.
Example #1: Lets say you’re doing something that requires you to use your grip for pushing or pulling. The more you crush or squeeze the grip the more muscle and motor units you will bring to the system that is being loaded.
Example #2: Start contracting from the inside out to maximize your ability to express your strength. Lets say you need to be as strong as possible in your “core muscles” (which is all the time) you would start by contracting your pelvic floor muscles. How do you do this? Imagine trying to stop urinating midstream or doing a kegal contraction. Now apply a percentage of contraction to it, 10%, 20%, 30%, and so on until you have 100%, notice how you feel the tension moving up inside the midline and contracting around your lower spine. I use this all the time to increase safety and stability, strength, endurance, and power.