Over the past 8 months I’ve had the pleasure of working with Vera Forkner, one of the most inspirational, motivational, dedicated and hardest working clients I’ve ever trained. Vera was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) over 20 years ago. Rather than letting such a diagnosis rule and dictate her life, she’s made every effort to maximize her function and overcome the effects of MS.
With that said, training particularly strength training and resistance training have been an integral part of her journey as it’s allowed here to minimize the effects of MS while maximizing the quality of her life. Because there is nerve damage that disrupts communication between the brain and the body, training protocols need to be implemented that not only help build the surrounding muscle tissue but also improve neuromuscular efficiency and strengthen neural connections throughout the body.
With that said, much of what I do with Vera is actually quite similar to how I train my professional athletes and advanced clients. Essentially we focus on using strict and controlled eccentric isometrics for most movements along with eyes closed variations, while also using relatively high loads and high intensities. In fact, one could argue that the need to train with heavy loads, high intensities, and complex movements is paramount to the treatment of MS as such strategies may be the only known modality that target the higher threshold motor units which likely receive little if any activation apart from such methods. Additionally these help wake up the nervous system and ensure all available motor units are firing at near maximal capacity. Besides relying on heavy loads and controlled eccentric isometrics we also incorporate a variety of explosive movements such as medicine ball tosses, ropes, Inertia Wave, sledgehammer, rope pulls, and more.
Keep up the amazing work Vera, I love working with you and am so excited for the progress you’ve made and will continue to make!!! Learn more about eccentric isometrics in my book MOVEMENT REDEFINED at
