Weak or Inefficient?

Daily, people tell me they've been told they have a weak muscle that needs strengthening.
The most recent example? A so-called weak SCM (sternocleidomastoid — or neck muscle, to make it easier).

The irony was in the very next sentence:
“Yes, I’ve been told it’s weak, and it’s all tight and contracted — you can feel it bulging, it’s so tight, and it pulls my head to one side!”

So... it’s tight and contracted, but weak and needs strengthening, right?

Wrong.
It’s tight and contracted and inefficient/tired — not weak.

When a muscle is tight and constantly contracted, the last thing you want to do is start strengthening it. And even if it was weak — weak in relation to what? Someone else? The other side? Your perception of how strong it should be?

Anyway, I digress.

If we start trying to "strengthen" this muscle, we’re just asking it to contract more — work harder, contract again. The outcome? A muscle that becomes even more contracted, possibly goes into spasm, possibly becomes more painful, and likely leads to further restriction in movement.

“But it feels weak,” I hear you say.
“It must be if I can’t move it as well, right?”

Wrong again.

Imagine I asked you to stand holding a dumbbell for a while, elbow flexed. At first, you'd manage. But over time, your arm would tire, feel uncomfortable, and you'd lose the strength to keep holding it.

The muscle isn’t weak — it’s tired.
It’s been working too hard, for too long. It needs to rest.

When someone has chronically contracted muscles, those muscles get tired. They may become sore, painful, stiff, and limited in range of movement. The muscle needs to relax and rest in order to regain full, healthy function.

The problem is that "weak" is a misleading term.
People often associate weakness with muscle wasting — like a leg that’s been in a plaster cast for six weeks. That’s true weakness: the muscle hasn’t been used, and its volume has reduced.

But when a muscle is constantly contracted — say, stuck at 70% of its full range — you won’t be able to access the full power of that muscle when you need it. That inefficient muscle appears weak.

And if you haven’t been able to consciously relax that muscle for weeks, months, or even years, it will feel sore, stiff, tired, and limited.

So let’s stop telling people they have tight, contracted muscles that need strengthening.

Instead, let’s help them understand:
Their muscle is over-contracted, overtired, and needs to relax and recover.
That’s how they can begin to take back full control of their movement — and their body — again.