Before I get into the weeds, I am going to preface this series with the disclaimer that the brain is an incredibly complex organ and there’s an abundance of intricacies to its form and function that we still do not understand. My goal is not to tell you anything and everything about the brain, it is to establish a baseline understanding that gives context to the principles that this company is built on and empowers people to take control of their bodies and health. I am also in no way an expert on the brain, just a nerdy engineer turned strength coach that likes to research and break down how something works to better understand how we can manipulate inputs and variables to get desired outcomes. We will start by breaking down what the brain is and its basic structural anatomy.

Put simply, the brain is a complex system of feedback loops that send and receive chemical and electrical signals from throughout the body. It takes in internal and external stimuli information, processes it, and provides an associated output, such as a movement, feeling, emotion, thought, or stress response. Both our conscious and unconscious state are dictated by the brain as it functions to control thought, memory, emotion, touch, motor skills, breathing, temperature, hunger, and all other body regulatory processes that make up our physical and emotional state of being. On average, the adult brain is 3lbs and 60% fat, with the remaining 40% being a combination of water, protein, carbohydrates, and salts. It is important to note that the brain is not a muscle, but it does contain an abundance of blood vessels and nerves, including neurons and glial cells. The spinal cord connects the brain to the rest and the body and together they comprise our central nervous system (CNS). It is one of two parts of the nervous system, with the other part being the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system contains nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body. However, for the purposes of this series we will primarily be focusing on the CNS. The CNS can be broken down into two parts - gray matter and white matter. Gray matter is made of neuron somas (round central cell bodies) that process and interpret information; whereas, white matter is made of axons (stems that connect neurons) wrapped in a protective sheath called myelin that transmits information. Together, the gray and white matter function to transmit and process information via action potentials. Simply put, your body’s CNS is made up of the brain and the spinal cord and functions as the body’s processing center.

The brain itself can be broken down into three distinct parts - the cerebrum, the brainstem, and the cerebellum. 

• Cerebrum → The cerebrum, often referred to as the “front brain,” is the largest portion of the brain and associated with “conscious actions.” It receives and gives meaning to information from the sense organs, regulates motor and conscious activity, and is responsible for a broad range of cognitive processes.

• Brainstem → The brainstem is composed of three sections, the midbrain (vision, hearing, eye movement, body movement), pons (motor control and sensory analysis), and medulla oblongata (maintains vital body functions, such as breathing and heart rate). 

• Cerebellum → The cerebellum, often referred to as the “little brain,” helps coordinate voluntary muscle movements and maintains posture, balance, and equilibrium.

It is important to note that this is a very basic breakdown of the parts of the brain and their associated functions, within each part there are intricate networks and pathways that I will not be going into depth about. However, an important system to note is the limbic system. The limbic system is also referred to as your “emotional nervous system” because it supports many functions including emotion, behavior motivation, and long term memories. It is responsible for our emotional lives and our higher mental functions, such as learning and memory formation. As we embark on this journey to pursue strength and health throughout our lives, it is important to recognize how the limbic system impacts our everyday behaviors. What motivates us? How does emotion influence our habits? What long-term memories are influencing how we perceive and interact with our current environment? All of these are important questions to answer as we start building training protocols and structuring coaching calls. More importantly, we have to start looking at how these structural systems are influencing how the brain actually functions and has adapted over time, its functional anatomy. We will dive deeper into the theory of the adaptive brain in the next part of this series.