Neurotransmitters & Exercise Prescriptions

Neurotransmitter Dominance influences program design and prescription and maybe highly effective tool to optimize results.

The are 5 primary neurotransmitter categories:

  1. Neurotransmitter Category 1
  2. Neurotransmitter Category 2
  3. Neurotransmitter Category 3
  4. Neurotransmitter Category 4
  5. Neurotransmitter Category 5

Neurotransmitter Category 1

  1. Dopamine Dominant.
  2. Respond best to intensity.
  3. Generally are strong willed, driven, and highly rational.
  4. Dopamine types are typically very fast twitch and have very efficient nervous systems. As a result they respond best to intensity. If you take away intensity you take away their training stimulus.
  5. In strength training intensity is defined as the percentage of 1RM. With these types 8 reps is considered volume. If you put them on a typical higher rep bodybuilding protocol they will lose muscle mass and strength very rapidly.
  6. Because of their efficient nervous systems they adapt very quickly and need to vary the stimulus at every workout. Its best to vary tempo and exercises but intensity should remain high.

Neurotransmitter Category 2

  1. Acetylcholine Dominant
  2. Acetylcholine dominant individuals respond best to variety.
  3. Acetyl Choline is the speed at which the brain processes information. It’s related to memory and attention. These people are witty, highly creative, and quick thinkers.
  4. Typically fast twitch but their nervous systems aren’t as efficient as Neurotransmitter Category 1. As a result they need repetition in exercise exposure and a mix of volume and intensity.
  5. Can over train quite easily if volume is excessive.
  6. Typically they adapt in about 4 workouts of the same body part. After that you need to change exercises and switch from volume to intensity or vice versa. You can play around with set and reps within a macro cycle.
  7. They do well with mixed rep protocols e.g. 4-8-12 or 6-12-25.
  8. If you reduce volume for 3 straight workouts then bring it back up and repeat the cycle you can extend them to 6 workouts for the same body part. E.g. Workout 1 – 100% volume, Workout 2 – 80%, Workout 3 – 40% volume, then repeat.

Neurotransmitter Category 3

  1. Balanced Neurotransmitter Profile
  2. Respond best to volume.
  3. Individual who have an equal balance of all 4 Neurotransmitter tend to be stable and grounded. They like structure and consistency and can stay on a program for a long time.
    Typically they are mixed fibre type and respond best to a broad range of training stimuli i.e. volume and intensity. They adapt in about 6 workouts of each per given body part and don’t need much variation in sets and reps within a macrocycle.
  4. They can handle volume better than pure Dopamine and Acetylcholine types but don’t have the ability to recruit a lot of high threshold motor units and burn out with a lot of maximal load lifting. As a result the average intensity should be lower and volume higher. They do well on rep schemes where they have to increase reps such as GVT or prolong TUT such as drop sets and giant sets.

Neurotransmitter Category 4

 

 

Neurotransmitter Category 5