Cross education is a
neurophysiological phenomenon where an increase in
strength is witnessed within an untrained limb following unilateral strength training in the opposite, contralateral limb.
Cross education can also be seen in the transfer of skills from one limb to the other.
Examples
A resistance trainer witnesses strength gains in her left and right
biceps
The biceps or biceps brachii ( la, musculus biceps brachii, "two-headed muscle of the arm") is a large muscle that lies on the front of the upper arm between the shoulder and the elbow. Both heads of the muscle arise on the scapula and join ...
after participating in a strength training program for only her right biceps. This phenomenon is due to factors both at the
muscular
Skeletal muscles (commonly referred to as muscles) are organs of the vertebrate muscular system and typically are attached by tendons to bones of a skeleton. The muscle cells of skeletal muscles are much longer than in the other types of muscle ...
,
spinal and
neural
In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes ...
levels.
A basketball player learns to dribble a basketball with his right hand and then successfully performs the task with his left hand even though he had undergone no previous training with his left side.
References
Neuropsychology
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