The mind-muscle connection is a strategy that has been talked about a lot and that can be very important in the sports field, especially when the goal is to increase muscle mass.
The problem is that benefits may have been attributed to it that it may not have .
This time we are going to show you what the mind-muscle connection can be used for and in which cases you should use it.
What is the mind-muscle connection for?
The mind-muscle connection is defined very simply. It is the ability we have to concentrate on a specific muscle while doing an exercise so that we can activate it better and thus achieve better results.
What we know for now is that this increase in muscle activation can indeed occur , but the evidence is not clear enough to affirm that this can cause us to gain more muscle mass.
In fact, generally when a person trains with the goal of gaining muscle mass, it is most normal for them to work close to failure . By doing this, the electrical activity of the muscle is already maximized without having to pay attention to the mind-muscle connection.
When you should turn to the mind-muscle connection?
If you still want to put the mind-muscle connection into practice, you can do it perfectly. There is no problem in doing it when it can really be good for you.
It is advisable that you reserve this especially for isolation exercises , in which preferably you do not carry too much weight and the risk of injury is relatively low.
If you do this you may increase the activation of the particular muscle you focus on and also the muscles surrounding it, but again. Reserve it for single-joint exercises.
For multi-joint exercises, it is advisable that you focus on what are known as external control patterns, which are orders that you can focus on that have to do with the execution of the exercise.
For example, in a bench press it may be advisable for you to focus on lifting the bar as fast as you can.
By doing this you will allow your own body to find the most efficient movement pattern to carry out that order, instead of trying to be the one to determine which specific muscles have to be activated.
These guidelines have greater evidence than the mind-muscle connection (which is an internal control pattern) with respect to improving performance, so they can also be useful in exercises that involve heavier and more demanding work.
