Unleash Your Torque

BETTER HARNESS YOUR INTERNAL CAPACITY TO GENERATE POWER.

- Justin Maguire

DESPITE WHAT WE'VE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE BY OVERLY SIMPLISTIC EXPLANATIONS OF BIOMECHANICS, HUMAN MOVEMENT IS NEVER LINEAR. Characterised by intermittent tension that travels in waves via a continual fascial network, our anatomy is designed to dissipate force and load through a tensegrity structural network comprised of different types of tissues.

From our ankles to our neck, the degree of rotation available at our joint structures is what ultimately determines our ability to move optimally. The degree to which available rotation and relative control occur will dictate our ability to exert maximal force through our gross motor functions.

■ DECLINING CONTROL

However, throughout our lives our capacity to exert active control over our natural movements starts to dwindle, resulting in an inevitable loss of efficient motion and, subsequently, power. This happens for a number of reasons.

Of primary concern in this regard is our central nervous system (CNS), which is highly complex, with our brain the centre of this system. Our brain, via our CNS, sends orchestrated programmed commands that initiate systematic movement at our peripheries, thereby controlling our limbs and our movements.

During this process, neurotransmitters play an important role in regulating synaptic programming, either increasing or redirecting tension within our physiological structures.

However, various factors, including environmental inputs such as pollution and nutrition, and other lifestyle-related factors, all influence the body's ability to deliver the right chemical signals and allow optimal neurotransmitter production and output. Due to these stresses of modern day life, physiological havoc is often the outcome.

■ REGULATION GONE AWRY