drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
We’ve all heard the saying “mind-over-matter,” but what about mind over muscle? It’s crucial to understand that there is a physiological link between your mind and your muscles; this is not just hype. In our brains, we have neurons that extend outward towards the spinal cord. Those neurons extend into our muscles. All of these neurons combined make up our central and peripheral nervous system. One of my early mentors, Dr. Sawyer, used to say, “all voluntary movement is ultimately controlled with Intent.” The focus of this particular article is to discuss how your intent to activate a given body part or muscle group during a lift can have a drastic impact on potential mechanisms, which increase muscle size. Intent – What is it and How can You Use it to Build Muscle?
Ben Pakulsi is, in my mind, the most advanced bodybuilder in the world when it comes to the science of training. His knowledge and skill relative to proper movement patterns to optimize muscle growth is unparalleled. Prior to Ben, we used the notion of the mind-muscle connection. The mind muscle connection simply means how well you can target a muscle group with your mind and focus on it. I like to think of Intent as the Mind Muscle Connection 2.0. When using this technique, the goal is twofold:
1. Focus directly on the muscle itself
2. Initiate the movement only with the primary muscle of interest
An example of intent would involve contracting the pecs first before moving the arms in a flying motion or retracting the scapula first during a bent over row prior to any movement of the arms. A few years ago, we conducted a series of studies with Ben. I can remember it clearly, we had electrodes all over Ben and used science to try and see if intent worked the way we thought it would. During this study, we had 3 conditions.
1. Ben doing leg extensions with moderate weight and intent
2. Ben doing leg extensions with heavy weight and intent
3. Ben lifting heavy without focusing on the muscle.
The results were clear. Lifting moderately heavy with intent was far superior to lifting heavy without it!
Does Intent Take Time to Learn?
The next question our lab had was does intent take time to learn? I can tell you from personal experience that when you start working with clients or subjects that they always have to drastically lower the weights when first using intent; but do you get better at it? And are elite amateurs different then IFBB pros? To examine, we took Ben and had him lift progressively heavier bent over rows compared to an elite amateur bodybuilder.
What we found is that as the weight got heavier that the amateur bodybuilder began using more and more of his accessory muscles and less and less of his target back muscles! As Ben got heavier he began activating more and more of his target muscles. This tells us clearly that it’s not just the weight that dictates a growth stimulus, it is technique and the use of INTENT!
What if my goal is Strength, Not Size?
I see so many people fall into the trap that the heavier you lift the bigger you will get. What I will say is that progressive overload is certainly important. However, lifting heavier is a tool in the tool box. I have done studies where we have put bodybuilders through a powerlifting routine for 12 weeks. Their strength went up on the three big lifts (squat, bench, deadlift), but their overall muscle went down. This is because bodybuilding and powerlifting, while related, are two separate sports. This is supported in a study by Marchant and colleagues (2009). These researchers had subjects perform a lift with an external verses an internal focus. The external focus meant they focused on lifting the weight while the internal focus had the subjects focus on the biceps (elbow flexors). They found that force was greatest when using an external focus. However, muscle activation was greatest with an internal focus. This is because an internal focus distributes the tension primarily on the biceps and away from accessory muscles like the shoulders and helps to eliminate a great deal of momentum.
Can Pre-Fatigue Enhance the Mind-Muscle Connection?
The world’s leading authority on glute activation and a good friend of mine, Bret Contreras, is a huge believer in the mind-muscle connection. One technique he uses is to sometimes pre-fatigue the glutes before targeting with a compound movement. The thought is to get your mind focused on that muscle before other muscles get involved.
A very common example would be that you may do a fly before a bench press. Does this work? The answer is YES! Fischer et al (2016) found that isolating the glutes before squats, activated the glutes more than just squatting alone! This technique can be used with any exercise including doing biceps curls before pull-ups, push-ups before cable fly’s or hamstring curls before deadlifts.
Conclusions
The mind-muscle connection, or intent, is a phenomenal tool to enhance muscle activation. Below are some take-home tips you can use right away!
1. Intent involves focusing directly on the target muscle itself and Initiating the movement only with the primary muscle of interest.
2. An example of intent would involve contracting the pecs first before moving the arms in a flying motion, or retracting the scapula first during a bent over row prior to any movement of the arms.
3. It will take time to learn intent, so be aware that your weights will lower at first but then raise as you improve.
4. If your goal is to focus on strength and external focus is better.
5. Using pre-fatigue via isolating the target muscle prior to using a compound movement is great when it comes to optimizing intent.
<!-- end article section --> <!-- Citations --> Citations
Marchant, D. C., Greig, M., & Scott, C. (2009). Attentional focusing instructions influence force production and muscular activity during isokinetic elbow flexions. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23(8), 2358-2366.
Fisher, B. E., Southam, A. C., Kuo, Y. L., Lee, Y. Y., & Powers, C. M. (2016). Evidence of altered corticomotor excitability following targeted activation of gluteus maximus training in healthy individuals. NeuroReport, 27(6), 415-421.
Ben Pakulsi is, in my mind, the most advanced bodybuilder in the world when it comes to the science of training. His knowledge and skill relative to proper movement patterns to optimize muscle growth is unparalleled. Prior to Ben, we used the notion of the mind-muscle connection. The mind muscle connection simply means how well you can target a muscle group with your mind and focus on it. I like to think of Intent as the Mind Muscle Connection 2.0. When using this technique, the goal is twofold:
1. Focus directly on the muscle itself
2. Initiate the movement only with the primary muscle of interest
An example of intent would involve contracting the pecs first before moving the arms in a flying motion or retracting the scapula first during a bent over row prior to any movement of the arms. A few years ago, we conducted a series of studies with Ben. I can remember it clearly, we had electrodes all over Ben and used science to try and see if intent worked the way we thought it would. During this study, we had 3 conditions.
1. Ben doing leg extensions with moderate weight and intent
2. Ben doing leg extensions with heavy weight and intent
3. Ben lifting heavy without focusing on the muscle.
The results were clear. Lifting moderately heavy with intent was far superior to lifting heavy without it!
Does Intent Take Time to Learn?
The next question our lab had was does intent take time to learn? I can tell you from personal experience that when you start working with clients or subjects that they always have to drastically lower the weights when first using intent; but do you get better at it? And are elite amateurs different then IFBB pros? To examine, we took Ben and had him lift progressively heavier bent over rows compared to an elite amateur bodybuilder.
What we found is that as the weight got heavier that the amateur bodybuilder began using more and more of his accessory muscles and less and less of his target back muscles! As Ben got heavier he began activating more and more of his target muscles. This tells us clearly that it’s not just the weight that dictates a growth stimulus, it is technique and the use of INTENT!
What if my goal is Strength, Not Size?
I see so many people fall into the trap that the heavier you lift the bigger you will get. What I will say is that progressive overload is certainly important. However, lifting heavier is a tool in the tool box. I have done studies where we have put bodybuilders through a powerlifting routine for 12 weeks. Their strength went up on the three big lifts (squat, bench, deadlift), but their overall muscle went down. This is because bodybuilding and powerlifting, while related, are two separate sports. This is supported in a study by Marchant and colleagues (2009). These researchers had subjects perform a lift with an external verses an internal focus. The external focus meant they focused on lifting the weight while the internal focus had the subjects focus on the biceps (elbow flexors). They found that force was greatest when using an external focus. However, muscle activation was greatest with an internal focus. This is because an internal focus distributes the tension primarily on the biceps and away from accessory muscles like the shoulders and helps to eliminate a great deal of momentum.
Can Pre-Fatigue Enhance the Mind-Muscle Connection?
The world’s leading authority on glute activation and a good friend of mine, Bret Contreras, is a huge believer in the mind-muscle connection. One technique he uses is to sometimes pre-fatigue the glutes before targeting with a compound movement. The thought is to get your mind focused on that muscle before other muscles get involved.
A very common example would be that you may do a fly before a bench press. Does this work? The answer is YES! Fischer et al (2016) found that isolating the glutes before squats, activated the glutes more than just squatting alone! This technique can be used with any exercise including doing biceps curls before pull-ups, push-ups before cable fly’s or hamstring curls before deadlifts.
Conclusions
The mind-muscle connection, or intent, is a phenomenal tool to enhance muscle activation. Below are some take-home tips you can use right away!
1. Intent involves focusing directly on the target muscle itself and Initiating the movement only with the primary muscle of interest.
2. An example of intent would involve contracting the pecs first before moving the arms in a flying motion, or retracting the scapula first during a bent over row prior to any movement of the arms.
3. It will take time to learn intent, so be aware that your weights will lower at first but then raise as you improve.
4. If your goal is to focus on strength and external focus is better.
5. Using pre-fatigue via isolating the target muscle prior to using a compound movement is great when it comes to optimizing intent.
<!-- end article section --> <!-- Citations --> Citations
Marchant, D. C., Greig, M., & Scott, C. (2009). Attentional focusing instructions influence force production and muscular activity during isokinetic elbow flexions. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 23(8), 2358-2366.
Fisher, B. E., Southam, A. C., Kuo, Y. L., Lee, Y. Y., & Powers, C. M. (2016). Evidence of altered corticomotor excitability following targeted activation of gluteus maximus training in healthy individuals. NeuroReport, 27(6), 415-421.
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