The mind-muscle connection is one’s ability to preferentially target and feel a muscle group working while lifting weights. Elite bodybuilders have long heralded the importance of the mind-muscle connection, while some lifters and coaches think it’s overrated. So who’s right?
There does seem to be some truth to the notion that intensely focusing on a specific muscle increases its activity. Multiple studies support the idea that internal cueing (either thinking about a muscle moving OR being verbally cued to focus on a certain muscle) increases activity in that muscle. And legions of accomplished bodybuilders provide anecdotal evidence. Success leaves clues.
Even if it’s all in your head (see what I did there?), I’m convinced that developing one’s mind-muscle connection is a worthy endeavor for both enhanced muscle growth and longevity as a lifter. The better you are at targeting the muscle you want to target, the less you’re going to beat yourself up and the more efficient you become with your training.
Here are four ways you can improve your mind-muscle connection:
Change the Tempo
Tempo is the speed with which you lift. It’s broken up into four stages:
- Eccentric (lowering the weight)
- Switching 1 (how long before you reverse the weight)
- Concentric (lifting the weight)
- Switching 2 (how long before you start the next rep)
So you might see tempo written as four numbers, such as 4101, which in the case of a bench press would mean:
- Take 4 seconds to lower the weight to the chest
- Pause for 1 second on the chest
- Lift up quickly (i.e., take zero seconds)
- Pause for 1 second at the top before beginning the next rep
There seems to be something special about lowering the weight slowly, pausing at the stretched position and then lifting up explosively. The eccentric phase is where the most mechanical tension and muscle damage occurs, both of which contribute to hypertrophy. Maximizing tension in a muscle’s lengthened position (e.g., the pecs are most lengthened when the bar is on the chest during a bench press) has been shown to enhance muscle growth, so pausing between the eccentric and concentric makes sense. And lifting up explosively recruits more fast-twitch muscle fibers, which are the ones with the greatest hypertrophy potential.
All this to say it makes a ton of sense to lower the weight down slowly, pause, then explode up. The slow eccentric plus a pause in the stretched position will help you feel the muscle going through its full range of motion, and a fast concentric leads to a strong contraction at the shortened position.
TL;DR: slow down, pause, then lift fast to get huge.
Go Lighter
I just mentioned mechanical tension as an essential component for hypertrophy. Heavy weights lead to more mechanical tension, so don’t we want to lift heavy to grow? Theoretically yes, but you’ve gotta walk before you run.
Using lighter weights can help you feel a muscle working throughout the entire range of motion by reducing the need to use momentum and requiring more reps to approach muscular failure. This induces metabolic stress (another key for hypertrophy), which leads to the pumped, burning feeling you get toward the end of a high-rep set.
Lighter weights are generally less intimidating and easier to lift with proper technique. If you’re not worried about your form or getting crushed by massive weight, you can put more focus and intent into the target muscle.
A simple way to put this into practice: add a warm-up set or two for your accessory work. Warming up before heavy squats or deadlifts is common sense, but even seasoned lifters (myself included) rarely do warm-up sets for bodybuilding-style exercises like lat pulldowns or leg curls. If you’re struggling to establish your mind-muscle connection, try doing 1-2 light warm-up sets before your working sets. A light pump can bring more awareness to the target muscle so you’re locked in by the time you do your first challenging set.
Use Exercises that Target a Muscle’s Lengthened Position
Research suggests exercises that emphasize a muscle’s lengthened position are superior for hypertrophy compared to emphasizing the shortened position for both eccentric and isometric exercises. That said, exercise selection is important if you want to maximize growth.
While there’s a time and place for pretty much any exercise, it makes sense to lean on exercises that emphasize a stretch in the target muscle at its fully lengthened position. To illustrate this, let’s use a “do this, not that” approach:
Do: Romanian Deadlifts / Don’t: Hip Thrusts
Both RDLs and hip thrusts are hip hinge movements that target the glutes. However, RDLs emphasize the lengthened position (hip flexion) while hip thrusts target the shortened position (hip extension).
You might feel your glutes a lot at the top of a hip thrust because your glutes are fully shortened and you can squeeze them tight. However, you lose tension at the fully lengthened position because you literally sit on the floor at the bottom of the exercise. Sure, you could stop before your ass hits the floor, but then you’re cutting the range of motion, which misses the boat entirely.
For maximum glute growth, perform RDLs with an emphasis on pushing the hips back as far as possible with slight knee bend (to keep the hamstrings from taking over), aiming to feel a stretch where your glutes and hamstrings meet.
Do: Preacher Curls / Don’t: Incline DB Curls
I’m convinced there’s no such thing as a bad biceps curl. Do them all and do them often. But give preference to exercises that provide maximum tension when your arms are straight AND your elbows are in FRONT of your shoulders.
I used to think incline curls were the ultimate biceps exercise because by leaning back, you could get a big stretch in the belly of the muscle. While this is true, unfortunately, the weights sit directly under the shoulders at the top of the exercise, providing minimal tension on the biceps at the lengthened position. You can fully relax at the bottom of the movement and still hold the dumbbells in place.
Juxtapose this with a preacher curl. The pad under the armpits puts the elbows in front of the shoulders so when your arms are fully straight and the biceps are stretched, there’s still tons of tension on the muscle. If you relax in this position, you’re gonna drop the weight you’re holding.
Again, there’s still plenty of utility to exercises that target a muscle’s shortened position. But if you had to choose for your mind-muscle connection’s sake, pick the lengthened position.
Use Your Imagination
The gym doesn’t exactly seem like the place to dive deep into the most creative regions of your brain. Most artists and musicians who prompt you to “open your mind, man,” aren’t very jacked.
However, Arnold Schwarzenegger famously used his vivid imagination to facilitate massive pumps while he trained.
“In my mind I saw my biceps as a mountain, incredibly big,” Arnold said, “and I imagined lifting a huge amount of weights with that superhuman muscle mass.”
If you’re struggling to grasp the mind-muscle connection for a certain muscle group, close your eyes and visualize what’s going on under the surface. See the skin stretching, the muscle contracting and blood pumping with each rep. As three-time World’s Strongest Man Bill Kazmaier said, “The body achieves what the mind believes.”
It might sound silly, but if it’s good enough for Arnold and Kaz, it’s good enough for the rest of us.
Make the Connection
High-level lifters possess a strong mind-muscle connection that helps them target specific muscle groups with laser precision. Is mind-muscle connection the cause or the effect of their high-level status? It’s hard to say. But it seems to be a quality worth building. Use these four strategies to improve your own ability to connect your mind and your muscles for greater gains.
Our Get Jacked bundle is the perfect one-two punch program to help you develop your mind-muscle connection. A combination of our two most popular online programs, you get 24-weeks of muscle building workouts for just $79 (full price is $98 when you buy the programs separately). Click below to sign up now!
