Muscle Fatigue

Let’s talk about muscle fatigue. What is muscle fatigue? It’s the temporary reduction in muscle strength, either power or endurance. Strength and conditioning are two factors of muscle fatigue and often misunderstood in relation to mucle fatigue. Both methods of training will extremely improve your bodies over all foundation. In order to attain and maintain class A health you can’t have one without the other. Strength and Conditioning have many common factors but one that stands out most is fatigue. With both strength and conditioning you need to work hard to reach muscle fatigue in order to see maximum results. Most people view muscle fatigue as a bad thing. I disagree. Muscle fatigue is often misunderstood even by individuals who are experienced in the gym. Those that are ignorant to the way fatigue occurs, I notice how they’ll rest longer than they should. Most people feel that if they rest longer then they'll recovery will be better enabling the to lift more or go father on the next set or interval. Let’s say your target repetition is fifteen, but when you reach muscle fatigue you’ve only done ten reps. If you don’t finish your reputations that does not necessarily mean you’ve reach muscle fatigue. Either there is too much weight on your machine or it is simply a fact that you have been using poor technique while exercising. From my experience as a personal trainer this all it means is, either you have too much weight on your machine or that again your technique is completely wrong. Again muscle fatigue doesn’t just mean your muscles are being over worked. It could mean they’re being worked the wrong way.

That is where the strength and conditioning is introduced into the equation. The more strength you have the more you lift push pull twist etc. Along with technique the amount of strength you have will determine how soon you reach muscle fatigue and your strength will determine how well you continue lift push pull and twist once muscle fatigue starts to occur. Your strength also determines how well you maintain good technique during and between each repetition.  But as I stated earlier, you'll want to reach muscle fatigue. That way you are positive that the particular muscle group is being worked properly. A high percentage of the time when you reach muscle fatigue it’s your body’s way of telling you that you are tearing tissue. Isn’t that what our goal is? To tear the tissue so it repairs itself and grows. Personally I feel that a lot of the trainers these days should educate the individuals they train on what muscle really fatigue is.

I believe once a person that likes to work is educated on how to workout properly, muscle fatigue will dont stop them from pushing past their workout goal. Your conditioning determines how much stamina you have. How long you can go. How long you can maintain. Therefore if you’re conditioning high, then the rate a which your reach muscle fatigue will begin to decrease more and more. If your conditioning is really good more than likely you are stronger than the average day to day person. Therefore you endure longer harder sets will minimal rest in between.

So in my opinion strength and conditioning are common factors that will counteract muscle fatigue.