When I first stumbled upon John Maxick’s concept of, “Muscle Control” I was taken aback at the level of learning it took not only to practice his system but to master it. For this reason, so many times in the past few years I would use muscle control for a bit and then toss it to the side and go back to whatever else I was doing. 

But over the past few months, I’ve been changing my training frequency and have now found a place for it. 

Muscle Control is more than flexing one’s muscles. You could see someone flexing in the mirror and drawing conclusions that they’re either preparing for a bodybuilding show or admiring themselves. 

Sadly, as with most concepts I’ve come to discover over the past three years are degraded copies of what worked/what came before. These muscle controllers were big back in their day posing on stage and exerting their strength moving heavy objects. Their posing on stage was not so much, “Look at my nice bicep” but, “Look at how well I can control my bicep.” This control, in Maxicks’s eyes, led to better development of the muscle and any other muscle he and his followers sought to control. Based on some of the books I’ve read from Maxick and his I guys I can ascertain that by, “Development” they mean, size, shape, and strength.

“But it was long before I discovered that by using the Will to control the muscles, not only did I gain development and strength, but that I was storing energy.”  (p 9 Maxick, How to become a great athlete) 

These gentlemen were certainly impressive even by today’s standards. But through the ability to activate a specific muscle while relaxing those surrounding muscles(which is difficult to do), they were pioneers in strength and development for their day. 

However, keep in mind that most of them did not do muscle control alone. They had to practice other lifts and movements. During these movements, they would apply their abilities and flex mainly the muscles that were needed to move the lift. As antagonistic muscles that serve as stabilizers at times, by contracting too hard, will impair the momentum of a lift. By not properly controlling the muscles during a bodyweight movement or lift they were in a way driving with the brakes on. Their antagonistic muscles would be working against them and not for them. 

I believe Maxick’s Logic is sound. I have even used Muscle control applications from time to time mainly to test my strength on the one-arm pull-up. Despite my poor muscle control abilities during these times, it did seem to help. 

“Taking it in as simple a manner as possible, we will proceed to consider the exact meaning of this term as applied to athletics. Suppose your were to take a fairly heavy weight , one heavy enough at any rate to necessitate the calling into work the greater energies of the body. Well, there are several sets of muscles brought into play in lifting it into the desired position, and “distributed of energy” means that you control these sets of muscles as they are required for use, and thus the essential amount of energy into each, just at the important moment.” (p 10 Maxick, How to become a great athlete) 

And studies have demonstrated that just flexing muscles in an untrained populace can improve strength, cause one to drop weight, and improve blood pressure. It’s safe to assume a more calculated approach would yield better results. 

But, there are a few things in the meantime that I have experienced and do believe muscle control will aid in. 

Nutrient Delivery 

“If I grasp a weight to exercise by biceps alone, I immediately divert some of my energy and blood supply to the postural muscles which are brought vigorously into play to maintain the erect posture against the leverage of the weight. As I raise the weight I employ other muscle groups of the shoulder. What should be a biceps exercise becomes a general one. But if I perform a pure contraction of the biceps alone, leaving all other muscles relaxed, I give that one muscle first call on the blood supply and the whole of the growth forces are directed into it” (p 29 The Why & How of Muscle Control)

The workouts we do trigger growth, but sustaining that growth is a whole nother story. Not giving your muscles enough rest, or eating enough food, will hinder your ability to gain strength and muscle. With muscle control, especially on the days off, you are provided a tool to aid in blood flow and nutrients to the muscles in question. Muscle control is not an intense contraction so the light and, “Pure” flexing of the muscle to inherit those growth forces will aid in its development. 

Can the muscles grow without muscle control? Absolutely people have been doing it since the dawn of time. But with muscle control one is provided a more focused effort. Keep in mind Maxick did not eat much and I doubt any of his followers deviated from this as well. Based on Maxick I believe Muscle Control allows one to utilize the nutrients that one eats more efficiently not entirely eliminating the need for a calorie surplus but decreasing it. This saves one money and energy(from all the digestion) in the long run. 

Active Recovery

Along with this nutrient delivery and blood flow this also ties into recovery. You find a few videos as well as articles talking about the benefits of walking to aid in recovery which I do on a regular basis. But why is it that walking does this? For one, it helps to get people outside and absorb some Vitamin D but walking also aids blood flow throughout the body which is what muscle control also does. This blood flow helps to fix scar tissue, rid lactate, reduce stiffness, and repair muscles. If it’s raining outside or they’re other forms of bad weather or you want an activity that’s low impact and more focused then give muscle control a try. 

Sleep/Relaxation 

I’ve noticed in the past as well as over the past few weeks that the more I utilize muscle control the better my sleep is. There could be several reasons for this one it helps one to relax a little bit more. Muscle control helps one to develop a more proper tension/relaxation balance in one’s body. No muscles are overly tight and are primed in the right way. It is often recommended to stretch before bed for better sleep quality as this will teach your muscles to chill out. Muscle control is another route toward this end goal. 

How do I start?

Start simple and graduate to more difficult variations of muscle control months or maybe years down the road. We can do this by starting off flexing all your limbs, both agonist and antagonist muscles meaning that for your arms you will be flexing both the bicep and tricep. For the legs, you will be flexing both Quad(front muscle) and Hamstring(back muscle). Flex these four areas separately for a sustained 20 seconds each breathing normally throughout the time of contraction. Don’t try to make your muscles explode the first time.

Just get a feel for it and learn to gauge the intensity of your contraction over time. Once done relax and shake it out for a bit and move on to the next limb. The demands of this form of training are not high. So adding it to whatever routine you are doing, or by itself, or doing it as a recovery will all work well. 

• For adding it to the routine you’re doing your goal over time will be to increase the intensity of your contraction though not to the point where your muscles are shaking(which is too much). 

• Doing it on your days off to keep you busy and improve blood circulation it should be maintained at a lighter contraction. The aim is to not only get circulate blood but in theory get the nutrients from your food to where their needed, improving development. 

For me, the main intent behind muscle control is for time and energy-efficient muscular development. 

Progress with muscle control is slow. For beginners just focus on flexing the whole limb. Every two or three weeks branch out and try to engage specific muscles while actively relaxing the others. Even after a few months, it will still be difficult to try and prevent the surrounding muscles from flexing when you’re focusing on one specific muscle. Some of you might pick it up quickly. 

Once you’ve got the hang of your limbs, move on to other muscles in your midsection. Abs, Lats, Chest, etc. Muscle control is an extremely complex form of training that I have neglected. We tend to gauge our progress in fitness by the muscles we’ve packed on or the number of plates on the bench press. But muscle control calls for a different gauge of fitness and health which is mastery over one’s musculature. After all these years I’m starting to see more value in it and putting it to good use. It is very likely that this control of your muscles and the focus you would have gained from it, will spill over into other areas of your life. 

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