The central nervous system has a great influence on muscle growth. Learn about the brain-muscle connection in bodybuilding and how it affects growth progress. It is not just weight or intensity that can have a big impact on the quality of training. The central nervous system also plays an important role in the progress of the athlete. Today we will talk about the brain-muscle connection in bodybuilding. We will look at ways to improve mental connections, and how it helps to build mass.
What is the Brain-Muscle Mind Link?
Beginners are prone to technical mistakes when performing exercises. They improve over time. Also, now you can find a lot of information about the correct implementation of the exercises. In this regard, the question of the brain-muscle connection in bodybuilding becomes more relevant.
Many athletes do not pay due attention to this issue, and for this reason, it is necessary to dwell a little more on the communication mechanism. Surely many have seen and even experienced for themselves when, when performing exercises, the body behaves asynchronously, hands shake, and the barbell falls and rises convulsively. All this is characteristic of beginners and everyone goes through it.
In most cases, the reason for this is not the high working weight of the sports equipment, but rather the weak connection between the brain and muscles. The channel that transmits the nerve impulse is very weak, and even if a person knows how to perform the movement correctly, it will be very difficult to do this.
How muscles work
Human muscles use the principle of contraction when working. Simply put, with contraction, the muscles lengthen, and with movement, they shorten. It should be noted. That the muscles can be in one of three states:
- Relaxed;
- Stretched;
- Abbreviated.
From a purely technical point of view, when contracting, the muscles should be shortened, but this always means movement. Many athletes do not want to understand the intricacies of the anatomical structure of their bodies and do not know that skeletal muscles have several options for contraction.
The simplest types of muscle contraction are isometric and isotonic. In the first case, when performing movements, the length of the muscle does not change, and in the second this happens. Thus, isotonic contraction can be divided into concentric and eccentric. During concentric contraction, the muscles become shorter and contract. If the contraction is eccentric, then the muscle is lengthened.
How the brain-muscle connection works
If you look closely at experienced athletes, you will notice their ability to deplete muscle resources even with minimal exertion. At the same time, novice athletes may work with tons of iron and not achieve the desired effect. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the powerful brain-muscle connection in bodybuilding.
This connection can be represented as a channel connecting the brain and muscles. The more stable this connection, the more harmoniously the muscles work. In this case, communication is carried out in two directions. It is from the signal sent by the nerves that the magnitude of the effort created by the muscle will depend. When performing any exercise, the brain needs to determine which muscles should be used in this case and with what effort.
To control various parts of the body, an appropriate amount of medulla is allocated. For example, it is most difficult to control complex movements of the fingers and hands. For this reason, the largest part of the brain that controls movement is allocated for these purposes. The spinal cord is also involved in establishing a communication channel between the brain and muscles. It should be recalled that it is composed of gray and white substances. The white matter contains nerve fibers, and the gray matter consists of interneurons and motor neurons. The signal generated by the brain travels along the nerve fibers of the white matter and activates the necessary motor neurons located in the gray matter.
Thus, it can be stated that the number of fibers and motor units is of decisive importance in muscle contraction. The stronger the signal transmission channel, the more actively the muscles work, and, consequently, the athlete progresses.
How can you strengthen the brain-muscle connection in bodybuilding?
According to all of the above, bodybuilders cannot be called "dumb". The brain works very actively during training. Everyone knows that bodybuilding has three main components:
- Constant physical exercise;
- Organization of the necessary food and diets;
- Frequent recovery of the body.
All of these components directly affect the development of the brain-muscle connection in bodybuilding. Each of these components should be discussed in more detail.
Brain and exercise
It should be remembered that all types of physical activity have a positive effect on the brain. Thanks to them, the following happens:
- Improves blood flow and, accordingly, brain nutrition;
- Mood rises and stress decreases;
- Brain waste is utilized faster.
For a full-fledged pumping of mental connections, it is enough from 3 to 5 training sessions during the week. At the same time, at least two of them should involve cardio exercise.
Brain and nutrition
There are foods that have a positive effect on brain performance. Among them are blueberries, fatty fish, lean meats, whole grain breads and bran, dairy products, nuts, broccoli, avocados. By consuming all of these foods, the brain begins to function more actively, which helps to strengthen the mental connections between the muscles and the brain.
Brain and repair processes
Rest and quality sleep are essential for the whole organism, including the brain. To fully restore brain reserves, you need to sleep at least eight hours. If you've done a high-intensity, hard workout, it will take two to three days to recover.
For brain-muscle communication training, see this video:
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