What is mind-muscle connection? [Part 2]
Previously, we talked about what and how to be connected with our own muscle through exercise and now, we are going to dive deeper into understanding the benefits of mastering muscle mind connection.
Micro management of muscle growth
Each movement of the human body is initiated from the brain through a
series of chemicals that are released through your spinal cord to the nerves that control the muscles. With the constant practice of mind muscle connection, your muscle sensitivity will increase, allowing you to be more aware of your movements including the smallest muscle twitch. When we are able to focus on the part of muscle we want to work on and perform an isolated exercise, we will avoid the use of other major muscle groups.
Evaluate your own body condition or injury
To be connected with your muscle, is like fine tuning your musical instrument before your concert. You will know which part of your body is "out of tune". Generally, Your body will send out signals to reflect the current condition. This will come in handy when you need to make the decision for "stop or carry on” during your workout. You can feel even the slightest discomfort or could evaluate if your injury is minor or serious. This is essential for every workout performance as people often overlook their minor injuries that could potentially lead to serious injuries or conditions later on. As it is often emphasized, “resting is a part of your training”, mind muscle connection allows you to know and understand when to rest and when to put your training on hold and consider a visit of your physician.
Prevent Injuries Significantly
Injury —> Rest —> Rehab —> Recovery —> Injury
For those who has been working out for a while now, we have been through this cycle once or twice before and for some, it is an endless cycle if we do not change the way we work out. The length of recovery depends on several factors including the severity of the injury, the recovery rate of the patient and the rehabilitation process. Most of the training accidents happened within the first three months of your training, either through improper use of equipments/exercise form/posture and some injuries can become permanent if we are not careful. These accidents can reduce greatly through practicing mind muscle connection. As detailed in part 1 of our mind-muscle connection article, this means focusing on the prime mover muscle, staying in the proper form/ posture, being able to sense muscle fatigue and avoiding over-training.
Ability to Manipulate movement
In order to get the full benefit of the exercise, we need to understand to use the right muscle. As we build a good connection with our muscle, we can start manipulating our exercise/movement like, "speed", "range of motion", "peak contraction"...etc. We learnt that most of the movement/exercise can be executed in many different ways and it all depends on the result that we are trying to achieve. This will allow us to have stronger stimulation for our muscle, thus enhance the muscle overall growth.
Now you understand the benefits of mind-muscle connection, you can start implementing this into your regular workout regime today! Speak to any of our Qintensity coaches today if you have any questions in this area!