C E N T R A L G O V E R N O R T H E O R Y OVER MATTER
“I have been going to FitnessLab for well over a year and my wife has been going since they opened. Matt and his staff truly care about helping you move the way you should move. They are friendly, helpful, and provide a ton of services. You can do traditional movement training, exercise, and physical therapy. Go talk to Matt, he’s a great human and he knows what he’s doing. When I started going here, it hurt when I walked because I had plantar fasciitis pretty bad. Now I am moving easier, lifting weights, and able to walk without the pain in my feet.” The central governor theory is a proposed mechanism which takes input information about energetic needs, current physiological states, and various motivational drives to regulate physical exertion and save the body from catastrophic failure (Noakes et al, 2005). The central governor model proposes that the subconscious brain regulates power output to prevent the body from disrupting homeostasis (Weir et al, 2006). During exercise, once the subconscious informs the conscious brain of an increasing neural effort, the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) goes up and the body slows down. Variables that signal the subconscious brain of pot tial harm includ environmental temperature, distance and difficulty of the course, and an increase in core temperature, skin temperature, and heart rate. Furthermore, dehydration and blood lactate accumulation can also cause an increase of RPE. The marathon race provides evidence of this. Before the start of the race, athlet s race ‘in Whether you’re a recreational athlete, active for life, or happen to be involved with high performance, most people have heard the phrase, “mind over matter”. As some may question whether or not this is actually true, work by Tucker et al, (2006) and Noakes, (2008) can support this statement from both a physiological and performance perspective. This concept “mind over matter”, is known as the “central governor theory”.
anticipation’ by setting a variable pace at the start dependent in part of the environment and expected difficulty of the course. Furthermore, as the race continues athletes may experience a dip then increase of motor output (running speed) (Noakes, 2008). The purpose of pacing is to allow completion of the task in the most efficient way possible (St. Clair Gibson et al, 2004). Given that the central governor theory proposes that exercise is regulated by the brain, the perception of ones’ state can and may dictate the type of performance they might have. Although strategies to “over-ride” the central governor are under review, an array of modalities have been shown to “trick” the brain and improve athletic performance, these include motivational self-talk (Inzlicht and Marcora, 2016), a carbohydrate mouth rinse (Carter et al, 2004), and a menthol mouth rinse (Stevens and Best, 2017). As for mouth rinses’, the mechanism is similar to motivational self-talk, it has been suggested that oral receptors within the mouth directly stimulate reward centres in the brain. Especially under HARD circumstances, one can expect an increase in motor output and improvement of performance (Chambers et al, 2009). All in all…. Especially during endurance exercise, your mind is going to quit before your body does!!! Push harder and keep going.
References: Carter,J.M.,Jeukendrup,A.E.,&Jones,D.A. (2004a).The effect of carbohydratemouth rinse on 1-h cycle time trialperformance.Medicine andScience inSports andExer- cise, 36(12), 2107–2111. Chambers,E.S.;Bridge,M.W.;Jones,D.A.Carbohydrate sensing in thehumanmouth:Effects on exerciseperformance andbrain activity.J.Physiol. 2009, 587, 1779–1794. Inzlicht,M.,&Marcora,S.M. (2016).TheCentralGovernorModel ofExerciseRegulationTeachesUsPreciousLittle about theNature ofMentalFatigue andSelf-ControlFailure.Frontiers inPsychology, 7(967), 313–6.http://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00656 Noakes,T.D. (2008c).Testing formaxi-mum oxygen consumptionhaspro-duced abrainlessmodel ofhuman exerciseperformance.Br.J.SportsMed. 42, 551–555. Noakes,T.D.,StClairGibson,A.,andLambert,E.V. (2005).Fromcatastrophe tocomplexity:anovelmodelof integrativecentralneural regulationofeffortand fatigueduringexercise inhumans:summaryandconclusions.Br.J.SportsMed.39,120–124.doi:10.1136/bjsm.2003.010330 StClairGibsonA,NoakesTD.Evidence for complex system integration anddynamicneural regulation of skeletalmuscle recruitmentduring exercise inhumans.BrJSportsMed 2004;38:797–806. Stevens,C.J.,&Best,R. (2016).Menthol:AFreshErgogenicAid forAthleticPerformance.SportsMedicine, 47(6), 1035–1042.http://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0652-4 TuckerR,MarleT,LambertEV, et al.The rate ofheat storagemediates an anticipatory reduction in exercise intensityduring cycling at a fixed rating ofperceived exertion.JPhysiol 2006;physiological 574 (Pt 3): 905-15 Weir,J.P.,Beck,T.W.,Cramer,J.T.,&Housh,T.J. (2006). Is fatigue all in yourhead?A critical review of the centralgovernormodel.BritishJournal ofSportsMedicine, 40(7), 573–86–discussion 586.http://doi.org/10.1136/bjsm.2005.023028
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