Utilizing The Mind Muscle Connection...

We live in an eclectic world of needs and wants that must be met immediately. Thus the mentality of 'I want it now' transcends all that we do from ordering a new pair of kicks, too growing our tiny little muscle cells. The impatient folk try to curve the reality of hard work, consistency, and science driven practices, by pumping themselves with pre-workouts, "guaranteed to grow" products, and whey protein like they're the only ways to get bigger and stronger. The result is more of the same, a downpour of boredom and loss of motivation. Heck, if you just read the fine print of supplement bottles, they all say *in conjunction with a resistance training regimen*. No two ways about it, you've got to put in the work to see the results.

Though these supplements have their place in helping the body adapt to training stimuli and grow muscles, there are several ways we can enhance our training ergogenically without the use of supplements, training tools, and illegal substances. One of these techniques is the Mind Muscle Connection.

So what exactly is the mind muscle connection? Is it some invisible form of communication between muscle and mind? Do our muscles have minds? Is it the force?

Though I wish it were the last, none of these fit the bill.

The mind muscle connection is essentially our conscious contraction of a specific muscle group. When we lift a weight our body is effectively using as many muscles as it can to facilitate the movement of the weight from point A to point B with the least amount of resistance. So when we sit down on a bench and start curling, though our intention is to target just the biceps, many other muscles are being activated. Anterior and posterior delts, triceps, brachialis, pectoralis major etc. One way to avoid losing volume to other muscle groups is through the conscientious contraction of the target muscle group. Taking the bicep curl into consideration, let's picture the movement as a painting. In this painting there is a couple both wearing blue coats in a park , in this park there are several other couples, a handful of trees, some animals, and some different structures (pond/statues etc.). At first glance you are bombarded with a lot of information. It's difficult to focus on one particular component of the painting. But if I asked you to find the couple in matching blue coats, you would automatically narrow your focus to those simple details. First negating anything that wasn't human, then narrowing in on just couples, until landing on just the couple with matching blue coats. This is effectively you making a conscious decision to focus on one particular variable. If we adopt this narrowing of decisions to our bicep curl we can have a similar outcome. If I ask you to focus on just the bicep contracting to move the weight, the outcome will be a much larger stimulus on the bicep muscle. Actively concentrating on the target muscle allows you to apply added stress to the target muscle. Higher focused contraction leads to higher application of targeted stress and thus higher degree of volume to the targeted muscle group.

Far too often people concern themselves with total volume and getting the work done. This leads to two dominant thought processes. Firstly, people rush their sets because they think that just by finishing all the reps they've done what's necessary. Secondly, they treat their first sets and reps like their last ones. Where this becomes an issue is that the initial sets (warm-up sets and working sets) are meant to deliver a pre-fatigue stimulus to the muscle group so that the final few sets can fully tax the muscle group. It is the final few sets that cause the muscular damage that results in change. If we treat the first sets as equals to the last we either reach failure to early or we never get close enough to volitional muscular failure. Using mind muscle connection or conscious flexing if you will, allows us to select appropriate weights, get the most out of each rep, and fatigue the targeted muscle group to the highest degree without missing out on volume or performing low quality work.

Another point to raise is the effectiveness of time under tension. The above scenarios of people rushing to complete sets and reps leads to reduced time under tension. The result is a lack in stimulus-volume. Rushing reps and not focusing on contractions leads to the targeted muscle group losing stimulus. Other muscle groups soak up all the attention so to speak. The longer the muscle is under tension the higher the degree of external pressure we can apply to it. The higher the pressure, the higher the potentiation for growth. Mind muscle connection forces us to slow down, concentrate, and focus on each rep. Inevitable, when done right, this results in higher time under tension overall and benefits the growth of muscle extensively.

If you struggle putting on mass and can't seem to figure out why, I highly suggest taking a step back and implementing the mind muscle connection into each rep of your training. You'll initially notice a spike in post lifting fatigue, a spike in your pump, longer sessions or greater need for rest periods (growth periods), and likely reduction in weight used (initially).

You can't hope to find the couple in matching blue coats unless you narrow your field of view to capture only that of which you are looking for. Focus and you will grow.

"Progression is built through consistency and tested by passion"

JB