We're all familiar with it, the Gym Bro straining under heavy weights, face contorted, breath held, muscles bulging. The cultural narrative screams: That’s strength! But what if this picture represents not just effort, but inefficiency? What if true, sustainable power comes not from brute force, but from something far more subtle and profound: coordination?

In the Alexander Technique, we challenge a fundamental assumption: that stronger muscles will provide you with the strength to create better coordination. Instead, we propose, what might be to some, a radical shift: Strength doesn't automatically create coordination, but good coordination with resistance absolutely creates strength.

The idea that strong people are better coordinated is a fallacy.

Focusing solely on building muscle mass often leads to:

1. Compensatory Tension: We recruit excessive muscle groups, even those unrelated to the task (think clenching your jaw while doing a bicep curl). This wastes energy and creates unnecessary strain.
2. Poor Movement Patterns: We reinforce inefficient ways of moving. We might "muscle through" an exercise with poor form, strengthening dysfunctional patterns that lead to injury.
3. Stiffness Over Fluidity: Raw strength without integrated coordination often results in stiffness, limiting range of motion and agility. You become strong in a specific, often rigid, pattern.
4. The Strain Factor: That familiar feeling of "working hard" often signifies internal conflict – muscles working against each other or against our own structure, not pure productive effort.

In essence, building muscle without improving the underlying coordination of how you use your whole self is like adding a bigger engine to a car with misaligned wheels and a slipping clutch. You might generate more power, but much of it is wasted, the ride is rough, and things break down faster.

There's a specific area of strength training I wont be covering here, and that's Core Strength (click the link for a more detailed blog), which despite being comprehensively debunked by various studies still remains a surprisingly popular idea.

Coordination, in the Alexander sense, is about the efficient, dynamic, and integrated use of your whole self – mind and body. It’s about:

• Balanced Tone: Having the right amount of muscle tension where and when it's needed, and releasing it where it's not.
• Kinetic Sequencing: Moving in a way where force flows smoothly through your structure, utilizing your natural design..
• Freedom at the Core: Maintaining the easy, dynamic relationship between your head, neck, and back (your "Primary Control" as it's called in the Alexander Technique) – the foundation for all movement.
• Mindful Direction: Consciously choosing how you move before you act, preventing habitual, inefficient reactions.

The British Olympic rowing team are taught the Alexander Technique to help maintain their form and efficiency. It's a bit of a myth that the Alexander Technique is about doing things in an entirely effortless way. It's about using the appropriate and proportionate effort for the task at hand. When resistance is low, we may indeed describe the movement as effortless, but that heavy box isn't going to lift itself!

I'm currently working with a teenage rower who's coach recommended Alexander lessons to help with their form, and along with another younger student, I've incorporated using weights in their lessons because it felt appropriate to their needs. That is uncommon in lessons, even my own, but it is helpful to be able to recognise the extent of a students availability and strengthen their ability to cope with the additional stimulus where appropriate.

I recently worked with a client to help them with a shoulder rehabilitation. Despite the exercises their physiotherapist had given them, the shoulder was stubbornly refusing to improve. The problem was that they weren't integrating the motions in a well coordinated manner, mentally focusing almost entirely on the shoulder. The movements the physio had recommended were sound, it was the application that needed to be worked on. We function as a whole, not in discrete parts. A week later their physio was very happy with our joint client's recovery, and was happy to recognise that we can work synergistically well together.

When you move with good coordination against resistance (whether it's gravity, your body weight, a weight, or an elastic band), something profound occurs:

1. Targeted Recruitment: Muscles are engaged precisely and optimally for the task. No wasted effort fighting yourself.
2. Efficient Force Transfer: Power generated in your torso or legs flows seamlessly through your structure to where it's needed (e.g., your arms or hands), maximizing output.
3. Full Range Utilization: You can move through a fuller, healthier range of motion, strengthening muscles across their entire functional length.
4. Neuromuscular Efficiency: Your nervous system learns the most effective pathways to recruit muscle fibres, making you stronger neurologically as well as structurally.
5. Sustainable Effort: Because you’re not battling internal friction, you can generate significant force with less perceived strain and fatigue. Strength feels effortful but not strained.

This is the basis for child development, it's innate to our human functioning. Babies gain strength through coordination/movement. They don't artificially strengthen muscles to then apply it to movement. That radical shift I mentioned earlier isn't so radical after all. It's common sense.

When it comes to improving posture, for example, targeted strengthening exercises isn't the answer. It can lead to rigidity, which is the antithesis of good posture and coordination. As with child development, the answer is in working with the coordination directly.

As Alexander teachers, we focus on improving Use, how you use yourself in any activity. This approach offers profound benefits over pure muscle-building: 

• Injury Prevention: Efficient movement reduces wear and tear on joints and connective tissues.
• Enhanced Performance: Whether lifting free weights, playing sports, or playing an instrument, better coordination means greater skill, power, and endurance. I discourage my students from using weights machines at the gym because they limit the range of coordination into a narrow, fixed band. It's also easier to discoordinate whilst being under the impression you were successful in lifting the weight.
• Effortless Posture: Good posture becomes a dynamic state of poised balance, not a rigid "holding" that fatigues muscles.
• Reduced Pain: Much chronic pain stems from poor coordination and compensatory tension. Improving use alleviates this.
• Grace and Ease: Movement becomes lighter, freer, and more enjoyable. Strength feels integrated, not forced.

1. Shift Your Focus: Next time you exercise or do any strenuous activity, shift your attention away from "how much" or "how hard" and towards "how am I doing this?" Notice tension creeping into your neck, jaw, or shoulders. Are you holding your breath?
2. Quality Over Quantity: At the gym, prioritize smooth, controlled movements with excellent form over lifting heavier or doing more reps with compromised coordination. Reduce the resistance if necessary to maintain good use.
3. Inhibit and Direct: (Core Alexander Skills!) Before you move, pause (Inhibit) your habitual reaction. Then, consciously Direct your thinking: allow your neck to be free, your head to move forward and up, your back to lengthen and widen. Then initiate the movement from this place of greater coordination.
4. Explore Everyday Resistance: Notice how you coordinate yourself pushing a heavy door, lifting groceries, or getting up from a chair. Can you do it with less strain and more integrated power?
5. Consider Alexander Lessons: An Alexander teacher can help you identify your specific patterns of interference and guide you towards experiencing the power of coordinated movement first-hand.

True strength isn't about conquering weight; it's about mastering movement. It’s the power that emerges when your whole self works in harmonious coordination, meeting resistance with integrated efficiency. Forget just building muscles; build better use. That’s where lasting, powerful, and truly efficient strength is found.