Mind to Muscle Connection Training

Mind to Muscle Connection Training

Anyone who has worked or trained with me knows I am a big advocate of this particular type of training style. This style was pretty much forced on to me due to aging joints and consistently picking up minor injuries. I had to find another way to stimulate my muscles without over-stressing so much that I created problems that would affect my training consistency. As we all know injuries are the enemy when it comes to bodybuilding progress.

So, what is ‘mind to muscle’ training?

Well in my eyes it’s all about getting that bond between brain and the muscle being targetted to ensure tension is maintained in the muscle throughout the full training movement. Since this style has been forced upon me I have had some of my greatest gains and improvements even more so than I did in my youth. Back in those days it was all about ego lifting and pushing the heaviest weights possible.

To get that connection to the muscle I will use a barbell bench press as an example.

When we normally do a bench press we lower to the chest and go close to lock out at the end of each press. At this near locked out position we have very little load on the pec’s (chest) so this moment could be termed as a muscular resting position. It is near impossible to create mind to muscle connection at this point. If this is the case we need to be putting maximum thought process into the bottom of each movement when the bar is close to touching chest. At this point we can automatically feel the discomfort in the pecs close to the armpit area as not only are the pecs under tension the fibres are also in an extended position. Use this discomfort to connect with the pecs and try your hardest to keep this feeling of tension there throughout the rest of the movement. This means avoiding full lockout (which should always be done anyway) where tension is lost.

This system can be applied to most body parts. When under load and fibres fully stretched it is easier to locate the muscle and then effectively make this muscle activate the motion.

‘Mind to muscle’ definitely works for me and it makes me wonder how my body would have responded had I adopted it in earlier years. I certainly wouldn’t have suffered the bicep tendon tears and many of the other injuries I have had to endure.

Knowledge and years of listening to my body has been a very useful tool and certainly has enabled me to be competitive within my class at world level.

I just want to share my experiences and give many of you guys out there some food for thought.

Remember we are all different and all respond differently to certain training techniques.

Best way to learn what works for you is trial and error, its as simple as that.

Thanks for reading

Steve