The Mind-Muscle Conection

[Doom44]

The mind-muscle connection is REAL!

What is the mind-muscle connection? It’s the ability to focus so deeply on a muscle that you can increase the amount of muscle fibers you are using in that muscle and therefore get better results in muscle growth. You can also use it to contract a muscle with more force, allowing you to be stronger. Research has shown that both examples are possible and real. Yet some skeptics feel that this concept is not real science and is just “touchy-feely” nonsense invented by bodybuilders in the 70’s. It is true that Arnold and his gang of training partners like Franco Columbo, Frank Zane, and Dave Draper were big believers in this concept. Clearly it worked for them and it can work for you. The latest study showing how the mind-muscle connection can work, and how you can fine tune it, comes from the University of South Carolina Upstate.

The researchers had weight-trained football players perform 3 sets of bench presses using their 50% rep max weight (that’s a weight equal to 50 of their one-rep max weight, or a weight that they could do for a little more than 20 reps) and 3 sets using their 80% RM (a weight that they could do for about 7-8 reps).

During each bench press set, they measured the muscle activity of the athletes’ pecs, triceps, and front deltoids. In the first set they were given no instructions. In the second set they were told to use just their chest muscles. And in the third set they were told to use only their triceps muscles.


When the athletes used the light weight (50% RM) and were instructed to use just their chest muscle, the muscle activity of their pecs increased by 22% compared to when they had no instructions.
When they were told to use only their triceps while lifting the light weight, their triceps muscle activity increased by 26%. During the heavier lift (80% RM) the increase in muscle activity of the focused muscles were not as significant. They concluded that focusing on a specific muscle during exercises such as the bench press can increase the amount of muscle fibers used in that muscle, but that this may be more effective with lighter weight.

[austinite]

My mind is disconnected at the moment, but surely this will get Turkish Juicer speaking...

[tigerspawn]

Bump

[Turkish Juicer]

My mind is disconnected at the moment, but surely this will get Turkish Juicer speaking...

LOL!

Not much to say really, we all knew it was real all along...

[Hulking2016]

LOL!

Not much to say really, we all knew it was real all along...

Lol
True

[Rusty11]

LOL!

Not much to say really, we all knew it was real all along...

Yea, but for slow learners like me, this doesn't happen unless I think about it each time I work out. If my mind wanders, my shoulders/arms take over during chest exercises. It's a constant battle for me. No wonder my chest lags so much

[Shadow530i]

This is awesome. I've been doing this for a long time now but I never really knew the purpose...I just knew that it helped me contract the right muscles in sets and reduced the amount of stress I'd put on my arms while doing chest/back.

[kelkel]

LOL!

Not much to say really, we all knew it was real all along...

Brevity? You ok buddy? Get some rest.....

[lucabratzi]

Makes sense to me. And I try to practice it. If your doing dumbbell bench press I'm focusing on the concentration of my pecs ect. That's more or less what they're getting at right?