I was curious if anyone else has made similar discoveries on their own and what input they might provide. I've always been in pretty decent shape. Never anyhing crazy but I kept my strength and cardio up since my early teens. During high school and college I played soccer and basketball all 4 years each and did some weight lifting and mountain biking on the side, which I still keep up. One day, not particuarly before or after a workout, while quite "elevated", I randomly flexed my arm in front of the mirror and noticed the individual muscles contracting under my skin. It wasn't anything absurd like X-ray vision onto my tissue but I could see and feel where muscle X ended and muscle Y began. It was almost like watching one of those anatomical models, where every muscle is exposed, flexing. I began to focus more on it and see which other muscles I can isolate simply by focusing on it in the mirror. I wasn't able to isolate immediately, but after a few focused looks and flexes, I'd usually zoom in on the muscle I wanted to activate. At first it was sheer curiosity and I took it as simply the side effect of my elevated state, since it enhances everything else, then it would make sense that muscle tension would be perceived in an enhanced manner. What really fascinated me though, is that I was becoming able to flex the isolated muscle at will. Where in the past I'd have to flex my entire arm in order to say....work the triceps, now I could stare at the triceps in the mirror and after 3 or 5 "tuning" flexes, I would eventually find the right twist-and-tense that almost completely isolated the triceps alone. Eventually I was able to do the same for the chest, various leg muscles, and even sections of my hands. I should specify: This is not during maaaajor high sessions. Motor functions and "reality" are still very much intact. I also know that I AM in fact working out the isolated muscles I think I'm working out during the high state since the next day those exact muslces are usually fairly sore, like during a very efficient and targetted gym workout, so it seems I really am getting to them. Any idea what might be going on? Could I actually be in better muscle control when smoking? On a related note, I can run/bike far longer when elevated. Where I'd usually reach the "can't go on anymore!" point, the herb makes my body borderline enjoy it. Rather than collapsing it actually exihibts a borderline euphoric curiosity over all the head/electricity flowing through it which makes pushing on not just easier but borderline effortless. Has anyone made similar discoveries or has thoughts on this? Thanks.
I find that a strong sativa with give me a boost that allows me to push through my regular thresh hold while working out. I can add more weight to my bench, run faster and longer, experience less muscle fatigue during reps. The down side is I will burn through the high at a much faster rate. If I smoke an indica or indica dominant strain I'll usually experience the opposite. My weights feel heavier, I can't get through nearly as many reps.. Overall I'm weaker and less motivated.
Look up proprioception. It's you sense of your body parts and where they are located. Like all senses, some people have more "processing power" and this could be the case for you. I know there are times when I crack my neck and back with my eyes closed and I can get an "image" of my spine. Could very well be my imagination, but the brain being aware of individual body parts is well within the capability of the brain.
Oh wow...that is me spot on. I'm still new to any sort of public discussion regarding most things usually discussed on these forums. I'll look up proprioception, thanks.
Proprioception is sensing body position and limb movement, but not the actual contraction of muscles as far as I am aware. I also know we don't fully recruit the muscles at will right away. Over time we become more efficient (through training) and can recruit more muscles. Maybe this is happening and the concentration from your high allows you to focus better on contracting those muscles. Aka, neuromuscular efficiency.
How else will you be aware of a muscle to contract it? You have to have a sense of what and where the muscle is in order to work it specifically.. but you are right, the more we use it the more efficient it becomes. Could be seen as a form of interoception, but proprioception is kind of a form of interoception as it is.
Your nervous systems? I can see how it would fall under the same category though. I just learned proprioception a little differently. That it tells you where your limbs are at and where they are moving, but not how they are moving.
But him focusing on a muscle isn't telling him how he is flexing it either. It'd be no different than focusing on the rest of your body and where everything is at.. movement is done through muscle contractions so in a sense, focusing in on flexing a specific muscle is moving that muscle.
In my case it was literally staring at a square inch or three area on my shoulder or chest or arm and twisting and turning that body part in various ways while flexing it to tune my physical focus. Within a minute or so, I would be able to accentuate that very precise area. This is obviously easily accomplished by anyone who knows how to work out various body parts specifically, as I have for years at the gym. What makes this experience different is that I can zone in with far more precision. For example, most triceps exercises will work out other parts of the arm to a smaller degree, simply because they are connected to the triceps. Hand grip when using a machine for example. In my mirror exercise case, I would end up focusing so cleanly on the triceps that everything else remained virtually disengaged. At the same time, the triceps itself would be on fire within 5 minutes of the exercise to the equivalent of a 20 minute gym session focusing on the same part.
I can see where you are coming from. It's just a different concept than I am used to, but I'll definitely humor the idea and look into it more That sounds like a good thing to me. Better connection and focus on what you are working is basically neuromuscular efficiency (with the addition of proprioception, if I am reading what Mantikore is saying correctly).
All I'm saying is a possible mechanism that could be what is in play for what he is asking.. cause he asked what it could be. Proprioception would more than likely be the specific sense that is in play with focusing on a muscle and moving it. In terms of senses, but what you said earlier would technically be correct, our nervous system.. but it is there to sense our body and environment.
Glad you save me the trouble. lol Interestingly, muscles aren't only output devices. These expanding and contracting cells have feedback sensors that tell the brain the current length of stretch ("muscle spindle receptors") as well as the force the muscle is experiencing ("Golgi tendon organs"). The spindle receptors are in parallel with the muscle cell in order to react to stretching and contracting. The Golgi tendon organs are in series with the muscle-tendon connection and act like a load cell. These two types of receptors are molecular transduction devices that end up modulating the spiking frequency of connected axons and provide the nervous system with continuous feedback of muscle length and tension so as to be able to smoothly handle variable position and loading simultaneously.