This one is dedicated to the most powerful training tactic you could utilize, not just to build muscle, but to sculpt your body like a statue. Improving your ability to exercise mindfully by activating each of your muscles mentally. In other words, developing what is called strong Mind-Muscle Connection aka MMC. In other words, developing what is called strong Mind-Muscle Connection aka MMC.
How I’m going to do it is by firstly explaining what MMC is. And why is so crucial to anyone who wants to improve his or her physique. And then I’m going to give you my top tips on how to increase yours. So let’s begin.
The Science Behind MMC
As you most likely already know our brains control all of our daily movements, and apparently, that doesn’t exclude our muscle contractions. The way a muscle contraction begins is with a signal sent by the brain. And through the same, it commands our muscles to contract.
The MMC occurs at the neuromuscular or myoneural junctions. And is the brain’s physical ability to generate electrical activity to cause muscle contractions. Same is the process of communication between our brains and muscles.
During that process, our brains release a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. When that happens, acetylcholine crosses the synapses (between the nerves and the muscle) and binds to the receptors, on the muscle fibers surface. As a result of that our muscles contract.
What Makes MMC So Important
Studies have shown that putting our minds into the targeted area, not only helps us in isolating it more efficiently. But as well increases the number of recruited muscle fibers.
In other words: the more you improve the communication between a muscle and your mind, the more significant portion of that area, you’ll be stimulating when exercising it.
You’ll be able of engaging more fibers of that specific muscle while keeping the others out of the movement. As probably you already guessed, that’s a sure recipe for, better quality contractions, pumps, and killer workouts and gains.
Having strong MMC allows you to control where to grow, therefore manipulate your body’s overall proportions. That means you’ll be making the gains, exactly where you want them and not somewhere else. And now let me give you my top tips on how to increase yours.
Give Up Your Ego/Stop Lifting Heavy
The heavier weights you lift, the more you trigger your body’s instinctive response to the excessive amount of resistance. Which means that: Instead of moving the weight by only using that exact muscle you want to work, your body automatically distributes it to multiple areas.
Why? It’s pretty simple because it wants to make everything as easier as it could be.
The more muscles are involved in the exercise, the less resistance each of them is handling. And the less stimulation the target area is getting.
By lifting heavy, you’re not only not giving yourself a chance to make the gains you could. But also most likely forcing growth on multiple undesired places. Due to that, the following is the most fundamental thing you could do to increase MMC.
Leave the heavy weights to the strongmen and the powerlifters. Feel each and every rep by going through a full range of motion and keeping proper form. Keep constant tension on the muscle while using a weight you can control and not one that controls you.
The following are probably the best examples of poor MMC and recruitment of muscle fibers in the targeted area:
·Using too much front delts and triceps when benching;
·Relying on your glutes/butt and legs when deadlifting for the back;
·Using your lower back and glutes to move most of the weight on the squat, when your goal is taxing your quads.
·Moving the weight mostly with your biceps and forearms when training back;
Apart of not lifting heavy, there’s one thing you could apply, to not end up in any of those scenarios. And that’s exactly what my next tip is all about.
Pre-exhaust
Pre-exhaustion or Pre-fatiguing is an incredibly efficient method. And the same helps immensely when it comes to establishing a strong Mind-Muscle Connection. The most basic version of the technique boils down to hitting an isolation movement before the compound ones.
The isolation movement has to target, that exact area of the muscle you have trouble to feel. Already having a pump there helps drastically when you try to work the same area mindfully on the following compound exercises. Let’s say you have difficulties feeling your upper pecs. Then beginning your chest workouts with an in inclined dumbbell fly would be a great option.
Yet the following is what I highly recommend to anyone who wants to take this to a whole new level.
·Split your workouts on 2 portions;
·Do all of your isolation movements during the first;
·Use the compound/multijoint exercises as finishers;
Warming up and isolating each one of them individually allows you to establish strong MMC with all areas of the trained muscle.
For instance: Begin a deltoid session by doing at least 1 isolation exercise for all 3 heads. And only then proceed with the pressing movements of your choice.
The most challenging areas to establish strong MMC with are the smallest and stubborn muscles. An example of that is the rear deltoids. Apparently the same area also least developed to most people. Due to that, you should always start with 1 or 2 isolation movements to work them individually.
Flex
Practicing some posing in between the sets not only allows you to stay connected to the trained muscle. But also drags extra blood and nutrients into the cell during your rests.
If you decide to follow the recommendations I just gave you, then begin flexing after done with all isolation movements. Connecting to your muscles mentally is so much easier when you already have a pump going.
Also, make sure to those exact poses which flex the muscles you train on a particular session. For example variations of most muscular with delts. Lat spread and back double biceps with back.
Perform Slow Reps
That means making each the positive and the negative part of the contraction last approximately 4 seconds. If you decide to use that method, I strongly suggest not mistaking slow reps for making stops in between the concentric and eccentric parts of the movement. Regardless of how slow the reps are you should always keep the tempo steady and tension constant throughout the entire set. Or at least this is what I highly suggest you.
Do Some Unilateral Work
What I mean here is not just doing exercises to allow you to work each side individually. But placing your resting hand on the trained muscle as you do that. Although you can apply this on a limited number of movements when that’s the case establishing a mental connection with the target area becomes 20 times easier. So let me give you a few examples of that:
·Single leg extension;
·Dummbbell preacher and concentrated curls;
·Various cable and dumbbell overhead extensions;
·Single legged leg press;
Stay Covered
My final tip is to start doing something I implemented into my training a few years ago. That’s purposely keeping my muscles and especially the targeted area covered during the first portion of my workouts. I.e., when I do all of my isolation movements.
While paying too much attention to what I see, could easily distract me, thinking of where I suppose to feel the pain/burn almost immediately puts my mind there. Due to that I pretty much always rock an oversized tee when individually exercising the different portions of the muscle. That allows me to stay focused on what I feel and where I feel it.
Yet, you should keep in mind that this is more of an alternative tactic. And the same may not work for everyone.
Some people have plenty of difficulties learning how to contract their backs properly. And that’s due to the fact they can’t really see it. If that’s you then seeing the trained muscles might be your better option
So yeah! Those were all of the tips I wanted to give you. Go and experiment with them in your next session. I hope those things will help you the same way they helped and continue helping me. I also hope you’ll find the article helpful and learn something.
If you want to, below you could watch a video of me going throughout the whole article
Until Next Time:
Yours Truly:
Peteonthebeat
