The Mind Muscle and Contraction

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The mind muscle connection and contraction.
November 15, 2016 by Kevin Simmang
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Going to the gym and performing that killer routine you found on the internet or from a friend is all well and good, but how much good is it really doing for you?

The industry and fitness world has over the past decade segway?d into the performing of large major mover compound movements. This mean the active recruitment of multiple separate body parts all within one motion.

For athletic conditioning this is good yes, but it often takes the focus from true muscle contraction/ conditioning to general calorie burn which can have adverse affect on one?s goals.

Lets take the burpee for example, this movement is a full body exercise with a focus on the core, shoulders, and legs. Now on the flip side a lifter is significantly better off by performing a front squat to overhead press as the EXACT same groups of muscles are targeted, yet the motion is significantly less energy wasting and actually allows you to make the true mind muscle connection within the movement rather than just bouncing around like a ping pong ball.

squatpress

Building better bodies requires true contraction and making the mind muscle connection is critical to accomplish this. Well what does this mean? It mean find the muscles your trying to target, tone, or build and truly focus your energy into those muscles as to provide the most effective contraction.

Taking a good pre-workout is critical as well as it primes the muscle?s to a conditioning environment receptive to hard work and recovery, not to mention the added focus from it.

So next time you touch a weight, take the time to really focus on what your working and slow things down a bit, because after all what?s the point of just going through the motions with nothing to show from it!
 
One way I've been able to really get the mind-muscle connection is in the stretch phase. When I feel a muscle stretch o know where to contract. After some time, I am able to fell many muscles through the stretch to full contraction. I can nearly fire individual quad muscles during a leg extension. Pretty damn cool when the target muscle is the one that burns during an exercise :)
 
I know that I can isolate a single muscle group and thrash it just by focusing on contracting that group. It is learned over time. When you are young you just use them all. I agree that stretching train the mind/muscle connection too.
 

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