The Nervous System
The nervous system. Ooof, this is a big one to tackle. How do you write about something so vast that we know so little of it. The theory of everything, physiology version. But let's give it a shot.
First off, what is it?
Your nervous system is the network of specialised cells that coordinates and controls the body's responses to internal and external stimuli. It receives information, processes it, and sends instructions that govern essentially every function in the body. It's the command centre of everything.
For example, shaking someone's hand. You feel the stimulus of the pressure of their grip through cells in your hand's skin. Those signals are sent to the command centre to be decoded, understood in the context of other information coming into your system, in this case social situation, eye contact, etc. All of this info is processed and sent back out as an action. So how hard you grip this person's hand during the handshake is all a function of the nervous system.
Likewise, you're sick. You're coughing and spluttering. That desire to stay in bed but you wanted to go to the concert. That's your nervous system saying sit your ass down, we have recovering to do, as well as your system saying you've got a role to play in society, don't be selfish by forcing me to go to this concert. I repeat. Sit your ass down.
There are two main divisions.
Central nervous system (CNS)
The brain and spinal cord. The processing centre. Receives information, makes decisions, sends instructions. To dumb it down, can't live without this one.Peripheral nervous system (PNS)
Everything outside the brain and spinal cord. All the nerves running through your body. Carries signals to and from the CNS. Can live without this one.
The peripheral nervous system then splits further into:
Somatic nervous system controls voluntary movement. What you consciously decide to do. The handshake example.
Autonomic nervous system controls involuntary functions like heart rate, digestion, breathing, hormone release. Think the sitting your sick ass down example.
Although thought of as acting independently, we have more control over the autonomic nervous system than we think. And this is where the majority of the blog will focus.
The Autonomic Nervous System in more detail
The autonomic nervous system has three primary states (ish).
The sympathetic division prepares the body for action. Increases heart rate, dilates pupils, slows digestion, releases adrenaline and cortisol, redirects blood to muscles. The classic fight or flight response. Superhuman mum strength lifting a stone off their kid. Or how about your breathing getting faster, your heart rate elevated and you've achieved maximal alert and pissed off stage on hearing "SHOW TIME" on the A train just after leaving 125th St. Examples of the sympathetic nervous system.
The parasympathetic division returns the body to baseline. Slows heart rate, stimulates digestion, promotes recovery and repair, facilitates sleep. Rest and digest. A lovely siesta under a tree with no one around after a massive picnic. Parasympathetic.
The third state is discussed and becoming popular amongst people who actually know what they are talking about (not me). This is a concept known as the polyvagal theory and is not fully in the public discourse yet. Hence the (ish).
It classifies the states like so:
Safe and social (parasympathetic) — calm, connected, engaged with others. The optimal state for learning, creativity and recovery.
Fight or flight — sympathetic activation, just as above.
Freeze or shutdown — an extreme survival response when fight or flight isn't possible. Dissociation, numbness, collapse. The expression "scared stiff" comes from this. Ever seen those fainting goat videos? The startled goats just freeze up and fall over. That would be this aspect of their autonomic nervous system coming into action.
The stress bucket
So how is the nervous system affected? Well, by everything. But let's try be a little more technical, and by technical I mean not technical at all.
The nervous system is constantly active and scanning the environment for threats. These threats could also be recognised as stress, and stress can be anything. Work, relationships, sickness, training. It's all lumped into the stress bucket. If the stress is higher than our capacity for it, the sympathetic nervous system will become over or constantly active. Meaning the body suppresses the anabolic hormones responsible for recovery and growth, and tilts towards breakdown instead.
This is where things get funky, because while exercise can affect the nervous system positively, it can also add more stress.
How training affects your nervous system
The goal of exercise in relation to the nervous system is building a bigger stress bucket. Stress management if you will.
For example, if you build up to a 2x bodyweight deadlift your body will not be stressed at all by lifting some grocery bags. If you build up to squatting a couple of hundred pounds, the breathing needed to survive under the bar of that weight, the confidence grown from being able to handle stuff like that, makes the plane delay stress feel like a walk in the park.
However, let's imagine we spend all our time chasing that two times bodyweight squat. We push through pain. We train as hard as we can even when we have had no sleep. We will effectively never give the bucket a chance to grow. We will end up shrinking the bucket and adding more stress. No effing bueno buddy. Injuries, insomnia and illness will come from such idiocy.
So building a bigger stress bucket is the goal. The more I can handle, the more I can handle. But simply placing the demand doesn't mean there is the energy to supply the demand. Like if everyone in NYC had a shower at the exact same time as running a blender, the system would collapse. That doesn't happen because modern day electronics have kill switches to make sure the whole thing doesn't go down close to overuse.
We have kill switches too. They are just more subtle. Well, kinda. If we learn to pick up the signals they are more subtle. If we don't, they aren't subtle at all, reverting back to the "sit your ass down" example.
Learning these subtle kill switch signs is what I refer to as learning our body's language. We use movement training as a way of becoming more aware of the signals that the body sends. The little aches, pains and sensations. All indicators of how close you are to the threshold. The muscles being used, the intentions, the breathing. Feeling your traps on a bent over row instead of your lats. All part of an intricate vocabulary. The more of which we learn, the more we can understand what our body needs.
How does this look at Uptown Movement?
First off, setting. The polyvagal theory dictates that safety and comfort is an incredibly important part of learning, creativity and growth. So working to make our members feel comfortable in the space is a vital part of our training strategy. No mirrors means more internal focus and a strong statement that we don't focus on how you look but how you feel. No blaring music that instantly puts your nervous system on guard. No flashing lights that send you into overdrive. While these are common features in HIIT classes they create a false sense of effort because they raise your heart rate. You think you're working but really you're just scared and dissociated. Our coaches knowing your names, knowing who you are and how you move. All intentional choices to help you feel more comfortable and in a place of growth.
Next up, awareness. We think awareness is the bedrock of everything when it comes to learning movement. That's why we put such an emphasis on form, not just whether you are doing a movement correctly but how it actually feels. Becoming more in tune with your body builds the foundations of that vocabulary needed to communicate your nervous system's needs.
Things like paying attention to breath, tension in the body, etc. Everything is information. Usually you hang for 30 seconds, but today it's only 10, probably need to go easier rather than push it. Warm ups feel good, you're light and springy feeling, boom, today is the day, push it.
Third, teaching our members what intensity feels like. We teach members from the get go that there are multiple ways to train, even the same movement. Learning the hinge movement is the exact same movement pattern as picking up 200lbs from the ground. The intensities are very different. Learning about how to move within a range of intensity that your body is expressing an ability to do is key. Training to explore and expand that range is central to us.
We also offer different training styles. Mobility, strength, conditioning, flow work, skill work. This allows you to build a broader practice. Some days my recovery is just not there. My joints are funky, my energy is blah. I just can't swing a full strength session. Not only would it be pointless, but most likely detrimental, but because I have a broader menu to pull from I can adapt with easy flowing movements. The bigger the practice, the more in depth the conversation.
So what does this mean?
Well, jaysus, I'm not sure really, but to be fair the last few blogs have been way too practical. The nervous system dictates your entire health spectrum. It's a vast beast, of which I, but also actual doctors and scientists, know very little. All that can be said is respect it, don't treat your body like a slave, just another cog in the capitalist wheel of more. Instead learn to talk to it, learn to push it, build your relationship with stress, don't run away from it, but don't become addicted to it either.