😴 CNS Fatigue 😵

- By BCC Head Coach M. Nelson

❓ What is CNS Fatigue ❓

The term CNS Fatigue can be defined as a temporary decline in the efficiency and functioning of the central nervous system, specifically impacting the brain and spinal cord's ability to effectively communicate with muscles. This can lead to a decrease in performance and an increased perception of effort, even when the muscles themselves are not experiencing significant fatigue.

So, what does this mean and more importantly what does this feel and look like for the combat sports athlete & competitor? You may have found yourself partway through a hard practice, during drills, in the middle of a roll or a spar and your brain tells you those words of self-perceived cowardice that no fighter wants to hear...

🦵 ~ "My legs are dead..."

🤼 ~ "I can't get out from underneath him..."

👊 ~ "My punches won't fire..."

🦶 ~ "My feet won't move..."

🛡️ ~ "I can't keep my guard up..."

⏰ ~ "I can't time anything..."

...or possibly the very worst...

☠️ ~ "I'm about to tap or quit to pressure &/or fatigue..."

But truly, the first thing that shuts down or taps out in a fight is your nervous system and it isn't always completely due to the stress of the fight itself...

Fatigue starts in the 🧠 and not in the 💪

Under Stress, your brain:

⚠️ ~ Slows down motor commands

⚠️ ~ Delays reaction time

⚠️ ~ Weakens coordination

⚠️ ~ Kills focus and decision making

⚠️ ~ Time distortion

⚠️ ~ Auditory exclusion

⚠️ ~ Disassociation from the task at hand. (QUITTING)

What this may look like during the fight &/or competition...?

😵 ~ Missed counters

😵 ~ Sloppy footwork / No base

😵 ~ Mental blanks mid-round

😵 ~ Giving up position w/out much resistance

😵 ~ Inability to read patterns / Tendencies

😵 ~ Slower reactions

😵 ~ Disregarding your corner's, ref's, timekeeper's verbal que's

😵 ~ Unable to keep track of round duration

You're not just "gassed." YOUR BRAIN IS LAGGING! ...and your heart is the most likely culprit to blame... especially if you are training ALOT!

⛽ Your Heart Isn’t Just a Pump… It’s Smart 🧠

✅ Over 40,000 neurons live inside your heart. Scientists call this the “heart brain.”

Here’s what it does:

• Processes information
• Makes decisions
• Communicates directly w/ your brain

The Crazy Part:

🔹 Your heart sends more signals to your brain than your brain sends to your heart.
🔹 The vagus nerve?

• 80% its signals go from ❤️➡️🧠
• Only 20% 🧠➡️❤️

Why It Matters:

🧠 Your heart influences your:

• Thoughts
• Emotions
• Decision-making

That gut feeling? That “heart knows best” moment? It’s real. Your heart’s neural network picks up on things before your mind does. That's where the saying "He's got a lot of heart." comes from! The old salty boxing coaches knew more than they let on; the brain and your "Fight IQ" will correlate directly with not only your overall cardiovascular health but the heart's ability to stay in-sync with the central nervous systems rhythm during the overtly stressful and chaotic setting of a fight.

Neurocardiology is clear:

Your heart is more than muscle. It’s a source of intelligence, intuition, and instincts. Start listening to your heart. It’s smarter than you think. So, if you constantly feel late to react to your partner during rounds or drilling, or if you are running out of that special "clarity through the fire" earlier and earlier... don't worry, there is a solution for this!

We need to get your 🧠 talking to your ❤️ again and even more importantly, it's time to re-learn how to make your ❤️ talk to your 🧠!

⚔️ How To Combat CNS Fatigue 🧠

✅ ~ Prioritize Active Recovery Training

Fighters and grapplers will think that an "active recovery" day consists of heavy weight training and sprints up the local hill with a hard heavy bag workout at the end to "cooldown" and think it was a "light" day because they didn't drill or get rounds in. Rest isn't supposed to be lazy, but it is still supposed to be REST! Your CNS needs true downtime to restore power, speed, and sharp reflexes. This very well might be the most short, simple, sweet, and unpracticed method in all of combat sports.

✅ ~ Use Auto Regulation

Instead of forcing yourself to hit max output every session, adjust your intensity based on how your body and nervous system are ACTUALLY feeling that day! ...especially on a rest day or the day after a really hard practice, drill session &/or spar. Days upon weeks upon months of training like you are in peak week of fight camp will only serve as detriment to your overall growth and progression. Your CNS will stay damaged and out of sync which only leads to unproductive training sessions where you will have that feeling of attempting to "stuff a square peg into a round hole."

✅ ~ Cycle Your Training Load / Weekly Split

This should correlate with your preemptive considerations of implementing good Auto-Regulation habits for your CNS as to be more proactive than reactive as the wheels begin to fall off and the fatigue sets in during a hard week of training. To stay ahead of feeling overt effects off CNS Fatigue I highly recommend alternating between high-intensity and low-volume days. I would like to preface this with something anecdotal as a testimony of knowing from whence I speak that this will be a catalyst to keep the training ship afloat...

I went to college in the days of Jack3d original formula and then popular "Bro-Split" of "Chest Day" 3 times a week and "Arm Day" was everyday... on top of 2 - hour defensive tactics classes 5 times a week in @ 5am and would still train martial arts extra-circularly 3 to 5 times a week! Believe it or not, even as a mostly disciplined and mostly healthy 18 to 20-year-old young man; this was completely unsustainable and would never last longer than a few months before the crash would hit and I would need to take nearly an entire week off to just reset back to a comfy baseline of stress, fatigue and anxiety.

Once I incorporated and stuck to a more reasonable weekly "split" that is conducive to Martial Arts improvement and stopped lifting like a body builder and running like a marathon runner... I became a better Martial Artist! MORE isn't always BETTER!

This isn't my current split but rather an example of a more reasonable Training Load / Split:

🗓️ - Monday -

AM - Explosive Lift of Target Muscle Group / Post Stretch

PM - Striking Class / Sparring / Post Stretch

🗓️ - Tuesday -

AM - Light Jog / 3 round Shadow Box / Post Stretch

PM - Jiu Jitsu Class / Flow Rounds with emphasis on technique / Post Stretch

🗓️ - Wednesday -

AM - Hill Sprints / Walk Cooldown / Post Stretch

PM - Striking Class / Sparring (harder rounds) / Post Stretch

🗓️ - Thursday -

AM - Yoga or Targeted Stretching / Short Walk

PM - Jiu Jitsu Class / Competition Rounds (longer time on the mat) / Post Stretch

🗓️ - Friday -

AM - OFF!! / Sleep in or Nap if Schedule Allows

PM - Light Bike Ride / Swim Laps / Walk / Stretch

🗓️ - Saturday -

AM - COMPETITION CLASS / Highest Intensity Day of the Week

PM - Stretch / Rest / Tend to Aches and Pains

🗓️ - Sunday -

AM - OFF!! / Sleep in or Nap if Schedule Allows

PM - RECOVERY! Stretch / Cold-Hot-Cold therapy / Foam roller / Thera Gun / A light walk or a couple extremely low intensity shadowboxing rounds should be the max effort.

NOTE:

**This is not perfect; this may not fit all schedule, school/work loads or current living situations or even manageable for all fitness levels. This is for the competitive sports athlete that is looking to not do too much without doing too little. Once you have more-or-less approached the cap of your genetic ceiling, it is a fine line between being over training and undertrained! Listen to your body! Taking a day off to nurse that bum shoulder or to be able to stay awake and focused on coach's directions and instruction isn't weakness... It is true confidence!**

✅ ~ Optimize Sleep & Nutrition

Optimal CNS Recovery only happens when you're hitting your deep & REM hours of sleep and are properly fueled. Prioritize 7-9 hours of HIGH-quality Sleep and stay away from boxed foods filled with preservatives that are hard for your body digest and transform into good fuel. Protein, Magnesium, Omega-3s and B Vitamins are what we are looking for.

😴 SLEEP 😴

📺 - No Phones / TV before bed! - Blue light KILLS your ability to sleep by tricking your brain and in turn your circadian Rythm that it is day and time for action. Read a book, stretch, pray, meditate or listen to an audio book and your hours under the sheets will be more productive.

🛌 - Set a Schedule & KEEP IT! - Some Martial Artists are students, night shift workers, "on the road" tradesmen, business owners, parents and everything in between that can cause your week to week to look completely different from the one before and after. It is paramount to do your level best to keep the hours of your sleep as consistent as possible or before you know it, you will be sleeping on the mats one way or another.

🥶 - A Cold Room - Studies have also shown that while sleeping in a room under 69F as opposed to above; the patients in the colder room had monumentally better, longer and deeper sleep than those in the warmer room and within a short period of time the colder room subjects noted that some of their lingering aches and pains had begun to diminish.

🌚 - A Dark Room - Studies have shown that not only do you hit the reparative and almighty REM sleep more quickly but are more likely to stay in that state for a longer duration if in a completely pitch-black room. Work a swing shift and sleep during the day or your spouse insists on a night light so they can find the bathroom in the dark? Buy a sleep mask / gator or invest in some blackout curtains. Your CNS will thank you!

🔕 - A Quiet Room - That very same study also concluded that the subjects in a dead silent room also had longer and deeper REM windows. If you sleep with a snorer, live near a busy highway or train tracks, there are comfy options of noise cancelling headphones out there just for this purpose. Do you need "White" or "Brown" noise of a fan to get to sleep? Don't use headphones that can be emitting harmful or disruptive bluetooth frequencies, type in "brown noise dark screen no ads" on YouTube, turn your backlight and brightness all the way down on the picture settings, and set a sleep timer on your tv and VIOLA! You get a good night sleep because your brain isn't subconsciously listening to external stimuli all night.

📵 - Limit Charging Phone / Wi-Fi Exposure - Your brain, muscles and body as a whole run off of electromagnetic impulses sent through the nervous system, why would we think being hyper-exposed to external waves and pulls emitting from outside our body would be any different. I know we live in a modern world and sometime certain things in our house require Wi-Fi to operate; Ring / Nest cameras, "Smart" security, heating and cooling systems are all typically required to run off of a local Wi-Fi connection. However, if your house doesn't need any of those things... shut it off for the night and plug it back in when you wake up. Not only do you save a couple bucks in electricity every year, but it greatly reduces your exposure to potentially harmful frequencies.

If you cannot abide by the Wi-Fi rule, at least put your charging phone as far away from you in your bedroom as possible. Find the outlet that is the furthest from your bed and set an end table there to be its place for the evening. This does two things; one - It forces you to get out of bed in the morning to hit snooze if you are one of the many people in the world who now use their phone as an alarm clock. More importantly the second benefit is that it protects you from the increased output of sleep interrupting frequencies that your phone emits during charging... especially if you own an iPhone. Some models of phones have measured their output as nearly 100 times as strong during charging as opposed to not. This is another good reason to not fall asleep staring at your charging blue-light box for one more reel or short to only have it cooking some brain soup next to your head the rest of the night! Your CNS will appreciate the still and calm!

EXTRA CREDIT: Start your day on the right foot by putting your face to a window or in a room with natural sunlight shining in and not the disruptive blue light of your phone as you scroll social media and hit those dozen snooze buttons you set for yourself for the first 12 minutes of your day! Your body will understand and remind your CNS that it is time to begin the day as our ancestors have since the beginning.

🐦"When men rise to the sound of birds..." 🦜

🥩 NUTRITION 🐟

🍔 - No Junk/Food Right Before Bed - I understand that some of the harder training sessions in most gyms happen at evening / nighttime as to mimic the timing of when your competition typically is. You have to replenish during your optimal window post-workout, this is gospel... (unless cutting weight).

The issue is that the body needs a couple hours to fully digest otherwise your brain splits it productivity between your sleep and your digestion. How do you do this if you aren't getting home until 9pm, need to eat, must hit your 7-9 hours of sleep without missing school or work in the morning? Easy;

• Meal prep an evening dish for each evening training session of the week in advance so you spend less time and energy cooking after training so you can eat right away.
• Do a full body stretch for 15-20 minutes after eating as to kick start digestion.
• Walk a mile or under after eating as to help calm the nervous system, reset your lymphatic system, and further progress and speed up
• Attempt falling asleep flat on your back with your legs slightly elevated above your heart as to help reset circulation and help alleviate any extra stress your body may be putting your nervous system through from your late-night meal.

🥩 - Optimize Quality of Quantity - If you are bulking up a weight class as you train; this isn't for you. Sometimes more is better when looking to increase size & weight so the double bacon cheeseburger with fries and side of chicken strips might be a typical meal for you. However, if you are looking to keep your CNS locked in and performing for you when you need it at your optimal fighting weight, Red Meat is King!

It is true that the central nervous system benefits from the good sleep that magnesium, omega-3s and b-vitamin rich foods bring you, however your muscles need fuel to recover and those dishes of chicken, fish, rice from a bag and broccoli from a can will only get you so far. The connective tissue in red meat is the "mother's milk" of the combat athlete's diet. Now I don't expect you to buy and meal-prep 2-3 ribeye's for each day of the week but there are plenty of fat capped sirloins out there as well as affordable high fat ground beef. Venison is another great and NO BS source of natural protein. If you don't incorporate a couple meals a week of some form of red meat, your muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments will all still feel under fueled and prohibit your ability to fully recover and in-turn keep your CNS running at optimal capacity.

**As in life, balance in your diet is key!**

☕ - Limiting & Timing Your Caffeine Intake - This is one of the most underrated hacks to keeping your CNS fresh if you are a highly caffeinated gym rat or fighter. If you don't need caffeine to get through the week, then by all means stay the course and only use caffeinated supplementation as needed to keep its effects more prevalent at a lower dose. Lower overall weekly caffeine intake will also allow your body to have process less of the stimulant and in turn giving it an easier workload when it comes to resetting your nervous system from the wear and tear you put on it in training.

Set your baseline and intake window and stick to it! If you don't normally exceed for 300mg as your daily intake; do your best to keep it at that level with tolerance breaks every few weeks. (A tolerance break is where your body grows accustomed to a certain threshold needed to feel the effects/benefits of the active drug or supplement so you cut back or cease any intake for a period of time so that your body will have more response to it when you reintroduce it to your daily regimen.) I highly recommend this with caffeine as any extended use of a stimulant can lead to damage or dulling of your CNS.

Another mistake that we often make in the western world is to start that first pot of coffee or crack that first zero sugar/high caffeine energy drink within 5-10 minutes of waking. What has been shown to be more affectatious w/ optimal caffeine consumption is to wait 90-120 minutes after waking and focusing on proper hydration during that first period of the day. This does two things; Primarily it sets you up to feeling better and more energetic throughout the day on its own as your cells and muscles are properly hydrate. Secondly it allows all your organs like the kidneys, liver, stomach and heart to process anything it is currently working off from previous ingestion as it gets ready to process any more fuel you are going to put into it for the day to come. If you cannot wait for a quick energy boost first thing in the morning, I recommend something more natural like squeezed lime/lemon juice, Himalayan or Celtic Sea Salt in 8-12 Oz of water, or 1-2 Tsp of organic/natural honey to either get you through the day or at least until 9am after your body and CNS are operating more cooperatively.

If you choose to consume caffeine on a regular basis to aid your training, YOU MUST be able to have a "cut-off" window for when you consume your last bit of caffeine for the day. One of the most common abuses of supplementation I see in a Martial Arts gym is before a PM session, martial artists ingesting 100mg, 200mg and even 300mg of caffeine as late as 9pm at night! Caffeine has an average half-life as high as 8 hours on most healthy study subjects. meaning that if you consume caffeine at 7pm before a sparring class, your body will be working to process that last sip until 3am that next morning whether you went to sleep or NOT! All this does is ensure that your major organs, therefore your CNS, is now working overtime even as you sleep and thus not allowing your body and CNS the proper recovery it deserves as a dedicated Martial Artist. So even you are a mid/graveyard shift worker, be aware of when that last bit of coffee or RedBull goes in and how close are you to that 8-hour window before your regular "bedtime,"

Caffeine is 100% a performance enhancing drug in personal opinion and can be utilized for a multitude of reasons for the Martial Artist leading a busy life & career regardless of their goals. However, I have found in my personal experience that the best, most natural, and all healing performance enhancing drug is found in your very own home; it is the ability to consistently get a good night's sleep!

⚔️ Fight Plan: CNS Fatigue⚡

🛡️ HOW TO TAKE CARE OF & RESET YOUR CNS ⏰

👃 Nasal Breathing: Helps activate your parasympathetic system (rest & digest) and lowers cortisol. Allows more oxygen to be directly absorbed to brain and is often required during drilling, sparring and high stress situations. Tier 1 Special Forces Operators such as the SEALs, Delta Force and Green Beret's use this as well as a technique known as "Box Breathing," or "4x4 breathing" where they follow intervals to breath as they conduct work that requires a high demand from the CNS.

😤 Box Breathing Technique 😤

• 4 Seconds - Breath in through the nose
• 4 Seconds - Hold breath with full lungs
• 4 Seconds - Exhale breath out the mouth
• 4 Seconds - Hold breath with empty lungs
• REPEAT

🥶 Cold Exposure (Smartly Timed): Teaches your body to handle stress, improves circulation, and sharpens mental resilience.

💪 Daily Movement (Non-Training Days): Walking, light mobility work, and stretching help reset the system without adding more fatigue.

😴 Deep, Quality Sleep: This is when your nervous system does its deepest recovery and resets neurotransmitters. Protect your sleep like your fight record.

💊 Magnesium & Electrolytes: Crucial for nerve health, recovery, hydration, and preventing CNS burnout.

A healthy nervous system means better reaction time, sharper focus, and faster recovery between fights. You must treat it like you treat your fight prep.... with intention.

If you are looking to help your regimen to better preserve your growth along your martial arts journey; whether it is supplementation recommendations, mental clarity, injury recovery, or an unmet goal you don't know how to reach... stay tuned for more of these types of guides as well as individual supplement breakdowns and analysis of which as it pertains to the martial artist. More to come soon!