A lot is spoken in weightlifting and bodybuilding and even Tai Chi circles about the mind body connection. It is a universal obsession! If you can get your mind into your muscles, they will obey you like trained dogs! Entire exercise systems have been built around this concept- the most dramatic perhaps the Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension Method. Why is there so much talk about this?
Because it works- to an extent. The real point is that your body must either be coaxed into adapting or forced into adapting. Frankly both work, though there are die hard proponents in each camp. Pavel is the most well known of the coaxing camp and Brooks Kublik is probably the most well known of the forcing camp, though frankly I would say any of the high frequency programs out there force changes. Most people try to force changes, as do most programs.
Here is the thing- forcing changes works great if you want to increase one aspect of your strength at a time, and want to do it in short time. The problem is that gains from this approach burn out fast, then you have to shift to working on a different aspect of your strength, and then come back. FORCING CHANGES MAKES PERIODIZATION INDISPENSABLE. This is not a bad thing, just one of the things you should know.
At the same time, coaxing changes works great if you want to get into, or come back from forcing changes and/or just want to improve several things at once. The main benefit of this method is that you can use the same method almost indefinitely, and can eventually improve a lot of things overall.
So which is best? That's right, neither! Because you can always switch between them as per your requirements. Basically in times of increased stress, settle for coaxing changes, and build an overall base. When you have the time, spot your weaknesses, and force them to change.
The point is- both work great, provided you can FOCUS ON WHAT YOU ARE DOING! Why? Because ultimately the muscle that will work will always be the muscle you (sub consciously) are focused on, and will do it using the aspect of strength you want to use.
Let's try to understand this. Let us say your are performing bent over rows. You are supposed to be pulling with your lats and upper back muscles. But you can only feel out your biceps and a bit of your lats. Your mind is in your biceps. So no matter how perfectly you row the weight, your biceps and lats will always do most of it and your upper back will never really contribute- they way it should. And because you do this, your lats and biceps will be sore/pumped, which just helps you feel them more, making matters worse. The point is, no matter how hard you try, until you think about your upper back, and can feel the upper back muscles pulling, and really focus on their movement- their contribution will remain minimal, because your nervous system just uses that body part which it is best at using- you have to teach it to use the other parts too.
Once this learning happens, it will always remain- once you get the hang of getting your upper back to do the job, it will always do it. The point is, for your efforts to be successful, the correct Motor patterns must be used! And the only way to reprogram your motor patterns is to focus on the muscles AND the movement. It does not matter if you are forcing or coaxing changes, the correct change will not happen unless the body can understand what you are trying to do. The body will know if you are rowing it only if you tell it again and again until it gets it. This is also the reason why initially while you are working any exercise, you must use high repetitions- that is the only way your body will learn it perfectly! This does not mean that you need to reduce volume later btw. That depends on your objectives.
Let me give you a more subtle example of this. You will find that one limb is always stronger than to other, and no matter how much unilateral work you do, they just won't even out. This is because the problem is not the amount of work the limbs are doing (they are never that different), but the fact that your mind is in your dominant limb! Therefore it always does a greater amount of work and just produces more force when you want it to because you can use it better! You nervous system can get more out of it!
Try this experiment- if you have an inch difference between your arms, start a course of simple barbell curls and close grip bench presses with all your usual work. Now make just one change- you will perform both these exercises with your eyes closed and all your focus and attention on the weaker arm. You should literally only feel that arm moving, don't let your mind wander to the other arm. In 3-4 months time, both your arms will be bigger and the same size and strength. It will work much better than all the unilateral work you may ever put in. Try it and see.Its simple.
You body always responds according to this. Focus on the muscles and your muscles will grow. Focus on the movement and your movement will improve. Focus on a particular part of the ROM and that will improve. Do your movements mechanically and you will work endurance. Do them using a full muscle contraction and your nervous system will be stimulated. The adaptation will be what you want it to be- as long as your focus on it. Try it.
Every day, to build that link, pick any one muscle in your body, and keep flicking it all day. You will understand how to contract that muscle. The next time you workout, you will see the difference it will make. The stimulation it will receive will be unbelievable.
Good luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment