How To Build Mind-Muscle Connection

[babygetoboy]

Hey guys, just wanted to start a good thread with input from guys who have been around a lot time.

I'm a new comer to bodybuilding, I think it's been almost a year now. And I've read on here the importance of the mind-muscle connection.

Now to help everyone out, are there any tricks or exercises or things to do to work on the mind-muscle connection? I feel that the mind-muscle connection is one point where I am lacking.

Thanks in advance.

[jimpaul]

Simply put, I think the mind-muscle connection is the concentration someone puts in to make sure that the muscles are "flexing" against the weights as much as you can.

As opposed to just throwing them up.

jim

[Massive G]

This is a great topic and I'm sure I have some good ideas, I'm just too tired right now to come up with anything....But good topic....

[babygetoboy]

I'm tired too LOL, I'll give everyone the night to sleep on it, but I expect some good answers tomorrow!

[King-Of-TheLoad]

What I do when I`m doing an exercise, is to consentrate on the muscle which I`m training. To do that I "think" about the muscle I`m using all the time, and I can feel it is hitting where it`s supposed to.

[OffDaMuscle]

i found i had a mind muscle conncetion to certain body parts, rather than all of them. especially in my chest and legs. but my back, hamstrings, and a few others took awhile to develope and then i could feel them better. just let your muscles develope a bit then it will feel better. the bigger the muscle the harder the contraction will be.

[Thors]

I think we need to differentiate between the mind muscle connection so to speak, and true development of the CNS. As someone else said, I look at the mind muscle connection as how much concentration you can muster during your workout. You can generate HUGE intensity just with good concentration alone.

On the other hand, actual CNS development, or the ability of the CNS to recruit more muscle fibers and fire them comes over time. Some people, the naturally strong ones, have great CNS development to start with. Others, like me, have to work at it for years.

[In-Human]

babygetofreak, Raul is so right on this one, I used to when I first started lifting I would look at Anatomy books to see exactly where each muscle was and how it interacted with other muscle, Anatomic and Boimechanics of motion is what I thought would help me out, concentrate on how each muscle worked especially in the top part portion of each exercises.

But in the long run, it was time in the gym with many years of lifting and muscle maturity that really did it for me. I think it took me 5 or 6 years just to be able to feel the muscles in my back working and I don't mean Lats, now I am to the point I can feel almost every muscle in my back right down to my spine. The strangest part is that all of a sudden one day you can feel more of one muscle than another, you can squeeze it harder so to speak.

I tell all my clients every time we get into some tough weights or exercise, "mind body link", I drill that into their skulls to help them concentrate on whats at hand and to try and get the most out of each and every exercise...

[bigp3]

Honestly, I think it is highly over rated. I believe you take the hammer and hit the nail as hard as you can and it will go in the wood. So in other words, eat a lot, lift intense and heavy and you will get big.

[In-Human]

bigp3, I do think though if you get your mind into what your are doing you will be more intense, I think your body will react to what you are doing with more concentration if you have some sort of link. I do not beleive just going through the motions will do much of anything in the long run, and I think more intensity comes from the brain then it does the muscles, what do you think?...

[jimpaul]

Originally posted by bigp3
Honestly, I think it is highly over rated. I believe you take the hammer and hit the nail as hard as you can and it will go in the wood. So in other words, eat a lot, lift intense and heavy and you will get big.

I sure hope so, bp3, cause I find that sometimes as the weights are increasing that towards the end of the sets I'm just thinking, "Pull this f***ing thing up!

While trying to keep the best form as I possibly can, it's hard!

jim:chair:

[rugbythug]

I do most back exercises with my eyes closed. I also do my DC stretches eyes closed. It allows me to concentrate more-I shift the weight and body around to hit exactly where I want. Actually the stretches have helped me to feel my muscles a lot more indepently. ESP quads.

[bigp3]

Originally posted by In-Human
bigp3, I do think though if you get your mind into what your are doing you will be more intense, I think your body will react to what you are doing with more concentration if you have some sort of link. I do not beleive just going through the motions will do much of anything in the long run, and I think more intensity comes from the brain then it does the muscles, what do you think?...

I do believe you need to focus when you workout. Concentrate on your form, focus on blasting out another rep, but what my whole point was is that I see guys in the gym day after day that talk about feeling the muscle, feeling the burn, feeling the pump and I see these guys handling the same old weights and not getting bigger. I guess what I meant in a nutshell is if you are intense and always increasing your weights you will get bigger, hence the hammer and nail method.

I think the majority of the cerebral part of bodybuilding comes outside of the gym. Planning your attack, focusing on your diet, learning everything you can about how to get bigger and to me the lifting is the easy part. It is kind of the old football cliche' the game is the easy part preparing for it is where the work is.

[Massive G]

I agree with both views though I think that you practise getting your form down perfect on exercises to get to the point where you don't have to think about it at all.When I'm at the bottom of a rep on my heavy set of hack squats I am not thinking 'hmmm....squeeze those quad muscles' I'm usually thinking 'Oh shit..."

[Massive G]

Originally posted by bigp3

I think the majority of the cerebral part of bodybuilding comes outside of the gym. Planning your attack, focusing on your diet, learning everything you can about how to get bigger and to me the lifting is the easy part. It is kind of the old football cliche' the game is the easy part preparing for it is where the work is.

Agreed