5. Good and Bad Muscles

A client telling you "my abs are on fire" is considered high praise by most instructors.

But what if your client said "my hip flexors are on fire"?

If you're like most instructors, your response to "my hip flexors are on fire" would probably range from mild frustration that they're not feeling it in the right place, to concern that they may be somehow "dysfunctional".

Or, consider these two statements:

• "My glutes are on fire"
• "My neck is gripping"

Both statements describe very similar physical sensations. Why is one desirable and the other not?

The fact that you know which one we're implying is "good" and which is "bad", kinda highlights the point.

Why do we have the paradoxical notion that some muscles should be worked and strengthened, whereas others should not be?

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Read Raph's book: Strengthen the Person, Not Just the Body Part here
• Stanton et al. (2017) Feeling stiffness in the back: a protective perceptual inference in chronic back pain https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-09429-1?mc_cid=a5e677f5b6&mc_eid=2aa759e33a
• Chen et al. (2017) Workplace-Based Interventions for Neck Pain in Office Workers: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis https://academic.oup.com/ptj/article/98/1/40/4562646
• Herida-Rizo et al. (2019) Clinical Outcomes and Central Pain Mechanisms are Improved After Upper Trapezius Eccentric Training in Female Computer Users With Chronic Neck/Shoulder Pain https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/cjpn/2019/00000035/00000001/art00010

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