Mental block

Hi folks,

Is it just me or does there seem to be loads of health related programmes on this week, especially Tuesday night? As you can imagine I get pretty opinionated about these programmes & either sit there smugly agreeing with what’s being said, or getting ultra frustrated if I think they’re giving out the wrong message.

I want to discuss how your brain can dictate how physically tired you feel. When we exercise, how do we know when to stop? – our muscles ache or we lose our breath right? We’ll research has found that when our bodies experience a high level of physical demand, our brains can make our muscles feel tired out even though they could go on for a little longer. This is an example of one of our natural safety responses kicking in so that we don’t damage ourselves. A similar response occurs in the muscle spindles when stretching called the ‘stretch reflex’. Like the stretch reflex, this mental buffering can be overridden by continuing to work to absolute fatigue (only advisable under guidance). By doing this regularly the body starts to reduce the mental buffer-zone & allows you to work a little harder before feeling the effects.

So could this explain why we find new exercises especially tough the first few times that we do them? My opinion is that this does play a part but muscle recruitment & establishing nervous pathways are also major factors. This research might be worth bearing in mind when novices are considering taking up exercise. If the activity is new then it should be at a relatively easy intensity, whereas if it’s new & at a hard intensity then it will seem impossible to them (especially in circuit training / group exercise / personal training). Then as their body learns the new movements, the mental buffer decreases & the intensity can be raised.

With workplace health in mind, this method may be useful when trying to engage those employees who aren’t so keen to join in workplace health activities – make it easy (or have an easier option) for them.

Next week I’m spending 2 days at the Birmingham NEC for the annual Health & Wellbeing @ Work conference, so ill be bringing you the absolute latest the industry has to offer!

Thanks

James