MUSCLE MIND CONNECTION

"Your mind is everything, what you think, you become" - Buddha

Muscles mind Connection (MMC)

It is basically a feeling of connection with our muscles that we develop over period of time. It really helps us mentally control the amount of force we can generate on a given exercise. Regardless of the weight, it’s the ability to use the MMC comes with practice. A lot of techniques such as forced reps, negatives and partial reps are all used to control the muscle through a certain range of motion and work the muscle harder. But if we focus mentally on how the muscle is working, we develop that control over time. Bouncing our pecs, for example, takes a bit of control and experience. That’s all about the mind-muscle connection.

MMC is one of those concepts in body-building that many people hail as a secret key to unlocking your full potential for muscle-growth or weight loss. The truth is that while this concept is not going to turn you into Mr. world or Mr. Olympia overnight and certainly is not essential to making some basic muscle gains, MMC is an important piece in the weightlifting puzzle nonetheless that can help you to bust your plateaus and get the very most out of your exercise and workouts routine. If you are a professional looking to find that edge or 'x' factor then this might just be that missing piece you have been looking for.

Train Your Brain

As the name suggests, the mind muscle connection, it describes a synergy between your brain and your muscles which means that you are much more aware of how your muscles are functioning, much more focused on the movements you are making, and strongly in tune with how effective your exercise or workouts are.

There are number of different things depending on who you are talking to. However it's perhaps most useful to think of it as how much control you are putting into the movements. Are you just blasting out repetition after repetition, letting the weights bounce wildly around, or are you feeling each muscle's involvement in the movement and actively controlling the speed and position of the weight? So train your brain accordinly.

Importance of MMC

Some weightlifters and body-builders are lead to believe that they need to lift incredibly heavy weights with no regard to technique, control or anything else. While this can be useful for building pure explosive power though, it's generally not the best way to work out. Not only will this be liable to cause injury, but it will also mean that you're easily able to 'cheat' by not quite working the muscle involved. While it's not something we often give much thought (this being the inherent problem), it's all too easy for us to use other muscles, momentum or other factors to lift a weight.

For instance then, you might perform 'leg extensions' and not realize that you are actually using momentum to extend them and perhaps handling some of the curl motion with your ankles or your hamstrings rather than the "quads" that should be doing the movement. Likewise if you are doing bench press exercise and you are not thinking actively about your pecs and their involvement in the exercise, then you can find, you end up working harder on one side than the other for example this will result in one side getting stronger than the other side. It's a problem which becomes a vicious circle as you find that you use that more developed side more in each subsequent exercise.

When we focus on our muscles as they work conversely, we can actually feel exactly how much each part of our body is working, where we are lacking, and where we need to put in more effort. If we are aware of our situation on the bench but we are 'feeling' how much work each 'pec' is doing, then as we go we can start to work harder with the side that's lagging and even out the balance. Similarly we can identify that perhaps the whole muscle group we are targeting is not getting enough work and can then increase the weight or somehow make it more difficult for our-self.

There is even some evidence to suggest that concentrating hard on a particular muscle group can help improve the intensity in that area – even helping to encourage more blood flow and nutrients to that part of the body so that it gets a better workout without your even having to put in any extra effort. This is one of the things that Arnold Schwarzenegger credits as being integral to his success during his reign as Mr Olympia.

Is it hard to feel our muscles while working out:

The first step when it comes to feeling the muscle, I think, is lowering the weight. Once you do that, the approach is to use your warm-up better. If you try to warm-up with perfect reps, really squeezing and holding the contraction with every rep, it allows you to mentally

connect with the muscle and get a good pump going. Then you work from your warm-up weight to your working weight gradually so that you can hold on to that feeling. If you lose that feeling, you’re probably going too heavy too fast. It’s also important to practice squeezing and contracting the muscle between sets or before you get started because it aids with that mind-muscle connection. If you just focus on lifting heavy, you may never see the kind of development you want. When training back, depressing your shoulder blades and then following with your elbows helps to keep your upper lats fully engaged. Also, using straps helps you focus on the pull with your back, rather than on your grip, which is a problem for a lot of people.

How to Engage Our Mind Muscle Connection

So how do you tap into the power of your mind in the gym and ensure that you are properly focused on what you are doing? It's easy in principle, but when you get in there you will find it's all too hard for your mind to wander, or for you to find yourself unsure of exactly what you are meant to be concentrating on.

One strategy that some body-builders use to encourage and strengthen this connection is to use something called posing which is essentially just a slightly toned down version of what it sounds like. Here you will gently contract the muscles you intend to use just prior to working them, and that way you will 1. direct some blood flow and oxygen that way and 2. consciously feel what working those muscles should feel like. You can then similarly tense those same muscles once you start. You may look a little strange doing a pec dance in front of the rack, but ultimately you'll get a better workout so who cares?

Does 'listening to music' hamper MMC

A lot of people like to make a lot of noise, or shout specially the females. But I always like to be quiet and relaxed. You should also make sure that you aren't distracted by anything that could disturb your focus. Just like if you're listening to pod-casts while it might be

entertaining and while it might allow for some handy multitasking, it also mean you are not paying attention to what you are doing and you will end up just going through the motions as a result. Listening to music is okay so long as it enhances your workouts rather than distracts from them, but anything with a narrative should be avoided.

Time Under Tension

Training slower also increases your time under tension (TUT) which results in more tears and thus more muscle growth, so overall you might just find that slowing things down and paying more attention can make all the difference for your muscle gains.

Time under tension (TUT) is commonly used in strength and conditioning and body-building. Essentially, it refers to how long a muscle is under strain during a set. A typical set of 10 reps for an average lifter will take anywhere from 15-25 seconds depending on lifting speed. By putting a muscle under longer bouts of strain, you can cause extensive muscle breakdown leading to sleeve-busting muscles.

Few Tips For MMC:

Always go for light weight because it will help you focus on the target muscles better and you will also understand the movement.
Your form should be correct only then you can have balance.
Always focus on tension because contracting your muscle properly throughout the move aids total efficiency.
As you fatigue the tempo will always change, but the pace of the eccentric portion of the move should be consistent and strong. So temp is the key.
In between the sets move your muscles and try to relax your muscles. Some people dances in between the sets and some people relaxed while listening to the music.
Avoid talking to people or using mobile. Just try to be silent, easy and calm.

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Thanks You Friends!
Keep Growing & Spread the Love!

Syrus