What Is Nervous System Training and Should You Try It?
Improve Your Mind-Muscle Connection by Training Like an Athlete
You lift weights. You do cardio. You take mobility, stretching and recovery seriously. But do you know about nervous system training?
From the outside, nervous system training may look like performing an agility drill or doing a one-rep max. It’s not a formal workout category as much as a concept that can apply to different workouts. The goal? Improve the connection between your brain and muscles, which is called the neuromuscular connection.
“When we talk about nervous system training, we’re really talking about training like an athlete. It’s a different way of thinking about exercise,” says Zack Dzingle, Assistant General Manager of fitness at Bay Club.
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Here’s everything you need to know about nervous system training and its benefits.
What Is Nervous System Training?
“Nervous system training refers to any method designed to improve how quickly and efficiently your brain communicates with your muscles. It’s not just about getting stronger, it’s about getting faster, more coordinated and more reactive,” says longevity, healthspan and human performance expert Dr. Mark Kovacs.
To understand nervous system training, you first need to understand the basics of your nervous system. It’s made up of two main components:
- Central Nervous System (CNS): Your brain and spinal cord — your body’s central command center.
- Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): The network of nerves outside the brain and spinal cord, which act like messengers between the CNS and the rest of your body.
Together, these two systems transmit signals between your brain and the rest of your body to , well, keep you alive, from regulating your breath and organ function to helping you jump, sprint or throw a ball.
The basic unit of your nervous system is a type of cell called a neuron, and different types of neurons help you achieve different things. Motor neurons are responsible for movement, carrying messages from the brain to the muscles when you take a step or do something more complex, like playing pickleball or performing a barbell squat.
Training your nervous system helps those signals happen more effectively, which improves the way you move. “Most men think of training only in terms of muscle or strength, but the nervous system is the master controller of movement,” adds Kovacs.
It’s worth noting that some people talk about nervous system regulation — habits that help you feel calm and balance the nervous system — and nervous system training interchangeably, but they’re not one and the same.
Nervous System Training In Action
So, what exactly does nervous system training look like in the weight room or on the pavement?
According to Kovacas, here are a few examples of nervous system-oriented workouts:
- Sprint work: Short, high-intensity sprints train your nervous system to generate force fast.
- Plyometrics: Moves like box jumps activate fast-twitch muscle fibers, improving your body’s ability to produce power in an instant.
- Contrast training: Pair heavy lifts with lighter, explosive movements, like a squat followed by a jump squat, to improve neuromuscular activation.
- Agility drills: Doing footwork with an agility ladder, especially if it involves stopping or changing directions, trains your nervous system to fire fast and with precision.
As Dzingle notes, it’s less about doing completely unfamiliar exercises, but more about challenging your nervous system by introducing variation, which keeps your body adapting.
Benefits of Nervous System Training
There are countless benefits to approaching your workouts that way. You may have noticed that a lot of the exercises mentioned above involve speed and explosiveness. That’s because your nervous system determines how fast you can recruit muscle fibers. “Training your nervous system increases power output in everything, from lifting to sprinting and sports performance,” says Kovacs.
Coordination and agility are also themes in nervous system training. The goal is to create efficient neural patterns, which means that your body and brain find the best way to perform a movement, using less energy and decreasing your injury risk. Think about it this way: The first time you perform a movement, it can feel more awkward. The more you practice and perfect your form, the more seamless it feels. That’s your nervous system refining the pattern.
Another perk of nervous system training is that it also improves your reflexes and the movements you do on autopilot. You’re less likely to get injured if something throws you off balance, for example, as your body adjusts more quickly to sudden, unpredictable changes.
Finally, nervous system training builds resilience to stress. “When done correctly, it can help the body and brain respond more effectively to stress and recovery signals. This process is similar to how muscles grow stronger with consistent exercise,” says Dzingle.
Should You Try Nervous System Training?
You don’t need to be an actual athlete to train like one. Nervous system training can benefit anyone who cares about their fitness, so it’s worth exploring. As with all workouts, it’s important to start slow and increase the challenge progressively — you don’t want to start with 20 minutes of sprints if you never even jog.
The good thing is, whether you do footwork drills before lifting or incorporate more explosive movements into your routine, nervous system training can easily be included in your current routine to give you an edge and help you feel more athletic.
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