Today’s episode of the podcast is all about the mind-muscle connection. The mind-muscle connection is the conscious and deliberate focus on engaging specific muscles during an exercise. Research suggests that directing attention to a muscle during exercise can improve activation and performance. We discuss how focusing on the mind-muscle connection maximizes strength gains. Then, we talk about developing a strong mind-muscle connection through using lighter weights, emphasizing time under tension, performing activation exercises before larger lifts, and incorporating visualization and controlled breathing. We discuss how neural adaptation plays a role in strength development, particularly in early training phases, and how mind-muscle connection also ties into muscle memory and the ability to retain and regain strength more efficiently after time away from training.
In this episode, we discuss:
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