Neuro-Muscular Compensation and the Implications for Progressive Overload

The challenges of training a dynamic system(the human body) that has self regulating protective mechanisms built into it are such that changes to the stressors must be made methodically and intelligently. The heaviest of lifts or the 1RM is commonly understood as 100% of capacity. The Soviets would have an interesting perspective on this as they would not define a 100% effort to a lift unless there was an injury in the process of executing the lift. In this understanding everything else would be 99% or "sub maximal" because it would be less than a 1RM effort. However you understand these dynamics, the challenges are that at very high intensity your brain is problem solving microsecond by microsecond how to disperse the training stress to the bones, joint systems, ligaments, tendons, muscles and organs. Since this is not a straight forward process the important part to understand is that the loading of the body must be managed consistently and with great attention to detail.

For example, if an athlete or client exhibits a small amount of movement pattern change at a new percentage of intensity increase the brain is managing that stress distribution challenge by changing subtly which muscles to recruit. As the stressors go up the weaker muscles or let's say the less efficient muscles receive less neural drive and the stronger/more efficient muscles take on a larger responsibility. As this dynamic continues what happens with increased loading is not more symmetry but more asymmetry. With a long term progression like this the important thing to understand is that you are either increasing these compensatory patterns or you are minimizing them with the loading progression you choose. The higher the percentage of 1RM that is being trained with consistently the more challenging the progression is and the the greater the compensatory patterns will develop.

The goal in training should be to minimize those movement pattern compensations as much as possible so that you can handle more load without increased risk/reward distributions. Take for instance the example of the flare of one elbow upward during a bench press. Why only one? There are many potential reasons why this could happen but what you could look at immediately to fix this problem is to reduce the stress of the movement until good mechanics return. You could also change other variables like sets, reps, rest periods, tempo, etc. Fundamentally though if you keep progressively overloading compensatory patterns you are going to have adaptations that you don't want. Instead of more muscle and strength you will receive injuries or create an "itis".

Which no one wants!

So what do we do to minimize the issues?

Progress your intensity slowly over time is the most straight forward answer. There are too many plans that recommend that you increase 5lbs every week on your barbell lifts. When you add 5lbs every week at the end of the year that is a(52X5=260lbs+45lbs Barbell) a 305lb increase in one year! Regardless of the lift!! Since this is not realistic and the reality is that those kind of progressive overload schemes all fail to be sustainable then you have to look at different models as far as what is sustainable. If we understand that compensatory mechanisms are in place when too much stress is present then it pays to pull the loading back enough to prioritize movement over the loading of the bar. If the movement changes in a negative capacity then you are losing progressive overload mojo anyway and would be stalling out soon.

The other way to change this process is to track the velocity of the barbell lifts. If you are someone who has a hard time moving the barbell quickly then you are going to stuggle with this one a little bit. The feedback you are looking for from the velocity tracker boils down to consistently moving sub maximal weights faster over time. If you are able to do this then the compensations at that current weight can not be significantly problematic to your progress. If you can't move the bar faster over time with similar weights then you most likely are stalled out progression wise and need to pursue improving the mechanics of the lift so that you can increase the intensity again. This could be due to muscle imbalances, poor set up strategies or just plain old poor recovery from the stress of training.

Ultimately, when considering what training program to use it becomes important to consider many factors. How imbalanced/balanced is this person? How much specificity, volume, frequency, intensity and density of axial loading can they manage well without obvious distortions showing up in the pattern? Assistance work? If they have big imbalances more of the training from a volume perspective should be prescribed to minimize those movement pattern compensations through assistance work. Consider those exercises as your problem solving exercises. The more of those movements that clients and athletes do the less movement problems there will be under any amount of increased intensity of loading.

From the other side of the fence if they are pretty well balanced they may hold up with some pretty simple linear intensity based progressions with limited variability for awhile before trouble sets in. Over the long term though every one is removing weaknesses specifically for themselves within a specific programming window of time. If the mind is kept open to consider how to solve these problems with progressive overload then usually there are solutions to these problems that are tangible and sustainable. What is important to be aware of is how quickly the improvement of the loading is and how the body is handling that loading. If sustainability is the goal then a smoother process always wins out over a faster one.