Central Nervous System and Fitness Program Design

 A commonly over looked variable of exercising in the fitness industry is the role of the Central Nervous System (CNS). Most fitness professionals create their training programs based solely on which muscle groups or which energy systems are being utilized. They overlook the importance of the CNS and its function in exercising.  For every muscle contraction, and every movement the body makes, the brain must signal, recruit, and activate each muscle used. This requires a substantial amount of energy to send these signals – the larger the muscle groups activated and the greater the intensity the more energy must be spent to produce it. That is to say that the greater the force produced and the greater the speed of the movement the more energy your brain must produce. As the muscles fatigue, the CNS does as well.

Fitness professionals must take this into account and design workout programs appropriately. CNS intensive movements, for instance Olympic lifts, plyo’s, and ballistic training should be performed early in the training session when the CNS is fresh and can produce large amounts of energy in order to produce the most powerful movements. As the session progresses, it should taper off into less CNS intensive movements that do not require as much energy, such as using smaller muscle groups like single joint movements. It is the role of the fitness professional to optimally train their clients by taking the CNS into consideration when designing a fitness program.