CROSS EDUCATION
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Did you know you can strengthen an injured muscle, without training it at all?

No? Continue reading to learn how...

This has been around since 1984... It is by no means a new concept

It is also heavily studied and supported.

So what is CROSS EDUCATION?

This is the phenomena that you can train 1 side of the body, and still see strength gains on the untrained side.

- This can occur in both your upper limbs and lower limbs.
- This doesn't even need to be from weight training, they have also found:

- Through electrical stimulation & VISUALISATION training, you can increase strength of an injured area.

HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN???

Your muscles are controlled by inputs from nerves.

These run from:
- Brain
- Spinal Cord
- Muscle Tissue

In both directions.

Strength= Combination between muscle size, and your nervous systems adaptations.

Now,

These nerves, run down the same side of the spinal cord,

but also CROSS OVER, within the spinal cord.

Because of this cross-over, a muscles that isn't used can still have stronger nerve signals communicating with it

Through the spinal cord.

e.g Training biceps on the LEFT side ONLY, strengthens the nerve connection for the bicep on the RIGHT side ALSO.

Your brain also adapts to training 1 side of the body.

When you are doing a unilateral exercise (1 side of body), you are still learning a motor pattern.

Because of this, BOTH sides of the brain become active, and you essential are learning this motor pattern on both sides of the body,

Whilst only training one.

Motor learning is your bodies ability to produce a movement efficiently, and also carries over to strength.

Therefore, becoming more efficient in a movement:
- Increasing nerve activity in the motor cortex (Brain)
- This efficiency in 1 limb is carried over to the other side also.

Motor cortex changes occur, and have been shown to be ACTIVE on both sides, when only training 1 side.

Evolutionary explanation:

- In hunter gatherer days, injuries from fighting and hunting would have been abundant.

The body may have built this as a defence mechanism to maintain strength, even on the side that is injured.

The body has many inbuilt security mechanisms.

Key Takeaways from Cross Education:

1. If you are injured, training the uninjured side of your body:
- Will maintain strength, and reduce muscle wasting (atrophy)
- The hormonal release from training will also keep test / human growth hormone levels elevated.

This is a snapshot of such an interest aspect of the human body

I will be covering much more in the future.

DM's are always open for advice, but also for topic suggestions.

As promised @almightykazs , I think @ellobosalvaje would enjoy this higher level thread, as most fitness stuff on this space is very cookie cutter.