Lengthening and Shortening 

How to connect with Concentric and Eccentric Contractions

When I'm riding, I need a simple way to do things.  The horse is living in the now, so I need something pretty much in the now.

The first part of this is finding something 'right brain.'  A movie, a sound, a sensation.  By the time words get involved the timing is off.

Since shape is one of the most obvious things that changes when a muscle changes from concentric to eccentric or eccentric to concentric contractions, a picture that changes shape can be used.  If you know muscles real well, you can use pictures that look like the muscles.  If you don't know the shapes of all the muscles, you can use representations.  For instance:

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And maybe this is mungable the same way you can squish gum.  Or the way you might use a rolling pin to roll out dough.  You would think of this as being in the area where the muscle is.  For instance, if it's the forearm, you would 'see' this along the front side of the horse.  If it's your leg, you might see you hamstrings.

The next step is to add some orientation and some movement to it.  I use lines and arrow.  The line represents the orientation of the muscle and where the 'ends' of the muscle are.   So this might be the plevis to the femur or the femur to the shin.   The arrows help me to know what is creating the shape.  Am I squishing from the top/bottom or from the ends?

Of course, there would be other ways of doing the squishy part.  It could be hands coming together, or plates, or bungees pulling from the inside.

Once there's a representation, it's time for a test drive.  (So, how does this work?  It's all kind of subconscious.  You ask your brain to create a picture that represents the muscle and then you play with the picture, paying attention to how the horse responds.)

I do squishies in one direction for four counts and then squishies in the other direction for four counts.  I'll do one lap at the walk per leg.  Or one lap per pair of legs.

For instance, as the foreleg swings forward, I'll be aware of the horse's biceps brachii and muscles on the front of the leg getting shorter and bunchier by seeing the block get bunchier.  Then as it swings back, I'll be aware of them getting longer and leaner -- by seeing the block get longer and leaner.

Then as the foreleg swings back, I'll be aware of the horse's triceps brachii and other muscles on the back side of the leg getting bunchier and shorter.  

It turns out this doesn't have to really be a actual muscle.  If you can find a part that is tight The "New" Idea

What if the muscle lengthening, eccentric contraction, contributes to changes in the relationships between bones?  What if it's not just a matter of muscles getting short and bunchy, dragging the other muscles into a "stretch."  It's not only about concentric contractions.  And maybe eccentric contraction isn't only about defying gravity.   What if eccentric contractions happen all the time?  

Did you give this a whirl?  What did you notice?  Share if you like!

More to come!

Lynn

4/10/20