As humans, we're constantly fluctuating in and out of homeostasis or equilibrium when it comes to the state of our nervous system. On one side, we have our parasympathetic nervous system, our 'rest' state, which dominates when sleeping, relaxing, reading a book, watching TV, or eating. On the other, there's the sympathetic nervous system, which operates when we're in a state of excitement or high adrenaline, such as bungee jumping, fighting, running away from zombies, or training.
We can think of our parasympathetic nervous system metaphorically as 'peace' and our sympathetic nervous system as 'war'. 'Rest and digest' vs 'Flight or Fight'. On the restful side, our heart rates are going to lower, breathing more relaxed and steady, and the amount of adrenaline and cortisol being released is low. On the other side, heart rates go up, breathing becomes faster, our blood vessels dilate to allow for greater blood flow to vital organs, and our bodies start to increase the amount of adrenalin and cortisol in circulation.
Without going too deep into the weeds as to how these two mechanisms work, as long as we understand that each state has a role to play when it comes to training performance and recovery, we'll have a better understanding of how we can leverage this to our advantage when it comes to getting stronger and building muscle. We can also use this to inform how a session might be structured from warm-up to cool-down.
Warming Up
At this point, we're probably still in a relatively relaxed state, but our goal should be to start to flip the toggle of arousal (we're talking about arousal when it comes to training, not 50 Shades of Grey stuff here) higher in preparation for the session. We should be doing something to increase our heart rate and blood circulation, gradually pushing our bodies into a more prepared state to handle intense workouts.
Think of your body like starting a car in winter. You're not going to get the best drive unless you let the car idle for a few minutes to let the engine heat up. Training isn't any different, except of course that we can't simply idle, and need to proactively bring ourselves ready for the workout.
This might look something like spending 5 minutes on a treadmill at a slight incline to raise the heart rate. Followed by a mobility drill that's specific to the session and where you feel a hindrance in terms of stiffness or restriction in ROM needed for a particular lift. This can then be integrated with feeder sets of your first exercise that gradually ramp up the intensity in the lead-up to the first working set or your top set for the day.
Main Session
At this point following our warm-ups, we shouldn't be feeling like we're stepping into the octagon at the UFC, but we should be feeling more ready to go. Depending on how your programme is set up, a workout might start with the main big lift from the get-go or be 2nd or 3rd after less demanding exercises both from a physical or mental standpoint. Whatever the case, by the time we're doing the working sets of our main exercise(s), we want to be at the top of the aforementioned metaphorical peak of stress/arousal/excitement, in other words, in a highly sympathetic state. As already mentioned, this could be accomplished by performing 2-3 feeder sets of our big exercise before the top set, bringing reps lower with each set.
It's important to touch on both the physical and mental demand that follows from spending time at the top of the stress curve. If you've ever been in a situation where the brain is sensing a high degree of threat or danger, you'll have experienced the initial release of adrenalin to help prepare the body to fight or flee, and afterward, the exhaustion when that adrenalin has worn off. Albeit less extreme, training often induces a similar response. The more time we spend in such an excited or stressful state, the greater the body's need for recovery. This is why smart training should manage stress and recovery across a training week, training month, as well as across a 60-90 min single session.
Take a look at the graph below measuring heart rate over the course of about a 70-minute lower body session, with the following structure:
Warm-Up
1) Walking Lunge 2 x 10 per side
2) Leg Extension (light sets)
(done as part of a circuit, the body was feeling ready to go and had no stiffness, so this warm-up was more about integrating light sets of the first exercise with something that challenged coordination and stability, in this case, the lunges, which were specific to the actual session)
Main Session
A. Leg Extension, 2 x 12-15
B. Hack Squat, 3 x 12/10/8
C. Contralateral Bulgarian Split-Squat, 2 x 10-12 per side
D. Seated Hamstring Curl, 2 x 8-10, 10-14
E. Standing Calf Raise, 3 x 12-15
As you can see, the heart rate follows a typical bell curve shape, starting on the lower end on the left-hand side at the beginning of the session, peaking in the middle, followed by another dip on the right-hand side towards the end of the session.
The hack squat and Bulgarian split-squats were the big exercises of the session, so the intensity of the workout was tailored specifically to start moderately with the leg extension, which was done by leaving a few reps in reserve (~2-3), to rise and peak with the hack squat and Bulgarian split-squat, which were done very near to failure (~1 rep in reserve), followed by a gradual reduction in intensity on the hamstring curl (~1-2 reps in reserve).
However, this graph isn't to demonstrate the only way to programme and apply intensity and manage stress in training, simply one way based on the way the exercises were ordered and set up and what the desired outcome was. It should also be mentioned that some exercises will induce a higher heart rate due to the metabolic demands or pressure they create, both contributing to an elevated heart rate, so in this case, the heart rate isn't to be taken as a direct correlation of training intensity with regards to muscular failure.
Post-session
The goal here should be to start winding down and allow our nervous system to go from a sympathetic to a parasympathetic state. But what do most of us do immediately when we finish training? We either chug down a protein shake or inhale a meal, either due to business or hunger. But if we recall which state digestion falls under, immediately post-training it's unlikely we're as relaxed as we should be to deal with a sudden hit of food. A better plan would be to take 10-15 minutes at the very least before eating, to maximise our body's ability to digest and ultimately recover, as this will reduce the likelihood of any disruptions to digestion.
As the saying goes, you don't grow in the gym, you grow outside of it. Proper recovery is just as important as the training itself, but we very rarely give it the attention it deserves. If you are someone who experiences bloating, indigestion or any other digestive issues, this small change to how you approach post-workout nutrition can have a big impact.
Having a basic grasp of how our bodies react to stress and the impact on our training performance and recovery can help increase our chances of progress. Implementing proper warm-up protocols before sessions, taking into account what the desired outcome of a session is, and being aware of our state of readiness to perform at our best are useful tools to have.
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