Learn how to properly tune the brain-muscle connection to injure muscle fibers as deeply as possible and trigger the process of anabolism and protein synthesis. Today, both specialists and athletes are talking about the role of the brain in muscle development in bodybuilding. Scientists have proven that humans can use the brain to develop muscles in bodybuilding and control muscle contractions. Neuro-muscular connections are an important part of strength training, and if you want to achieve positive results from your workouts, then you need to develop them.
What are neuro-muscular connections?
When it comes to the interaction of the brain and muscles, then it implies a conscious contraction of the muscles. Thus, you can not only raise and lower weights, but also control the process of their work.
Very often situations arise when a coach tells a novice athlete to cut, say, deltas, then in response he simply looks at his mentor in confusion. But for experienced athletes, there are no difficulties here, and they can control the contraction of any muscles.
In the course of research, it was found that when a person has the ability to concentrate on the work of the target muscles when performing movements, then more fibers are involved in the work, which makes it possible to pump muscles more efficiently. By improving your neuro-muscular connections, you will be able to use more and more motor units to work. By training the interaction of the brain and muscles, new neural connections are created, and your skill in controlling muscle contractions is increased. However, this statement is only true for those muscles that work frequently.
How to develop neuro-muscular connections?
There are several effective techniques you can use to train the brain-muscle relationship:
- Holding sports equipment in isometric mode for a few seconds.
- Performing specific exercises during warm-up.
- Performing at a slow pace (about 3 seconds) the eccentric phase of the movement.
All these methods will not only allow you to learn how to use the brain for muscle development in bodybuilding, but also stimulate muscle growth. In bodybuilding, the main task is not to lift large weights, but to work out the target muscles. To be successful, you must pick up such working weights to achieve muscle failure within the target rep range. Also, you should forget about setting personal records and focus on working your muscles. We will now look at ways to improve neuro-muscular connections when training different groups.
Chest muscle training
When you press, you need to push the projectile using the elbow joints, bring the shoulder blades together and focus on the eccentric phase of the movement. Push-ups can be used to activate the muscles of the chest, as well as the reduction of hands in the "butterfly" trainer and crossover.
When performing a bench press, you need to imagine that you have a tight spring in your hands and you have to compress it. Try to bring your palms together and use your elbow joints rather than your hands to perform the movement. This will allow you to maintain constant tension in your chest muscles. Lower the bar slowly over 3 to 5 seconds, allowing you to connect more fibers to your work.
Back muscle training
Let's note the most important points:
- It is necessary to pull with the elbow joints and strain the back muscles after each set.
- Pull-ups, pullovers, and horizontal pull-ups can be used as activating movements.
Try to exclude the biceps from the work when performing the deadlift in the direction of the waist. To achieve this, you should dilute the shoulder blades at the beginning of the movement, and reduce at the final stage. This will take the strain off your arm muscles. Lean back to shift the load on your upper back. If it is necessary to work out the lower section of the lats with high quality, then several pancakes from the bar should be placed on the seat of the simulator.
When doing overhead rows, you must first tighten your abdominal muscles. This will eliminate the swaying of the torso and emphasize the load on the target muscles. Also be aware of the correct operation of the paddles.
Delta training
Let's note the most important points:
- It is necessary to concentrate on the movement of the elbow joints and use the force of gravity.
- As activating movements, trisets of raising arms with light dumbbells and varieties of presses in a standing position can be used.
When doing the bench press in a standing or sitting position, the recommendations are the same as for the bench press. Try to keep your forearms perpendicular to the ground. In the upper position of the trajectory of movement, triceps will begin to connect to work, and you should stop in time.
When performing dumbbell lifts, it is best to do it while sitting to eliminate the possibility of using inertia. To improve the development of the lateral deltas, you should remember that they should be looking up.
Arm muscle training
Let's note the most important points:
- It is necessary to squeeze the muscles during the movement.
- Change the order of the exercises and the movements themselves as often as possible.
- There are no activating movements for the muscles of the arms, since they are small in size.
When working on the biceps, you should visualize the elbow joints as hinges. An excellent isolating movement for training the biceps, which allows you to fix the elbow joints, is flexion of the arms while lying on the back or stomach, as well as alternate flexion in the sitting position.
Try to keep your pinky fingers as close to the dumbbell discs and supine your palms to maximize target muscles. You can also recommend that each movement at the top of the trajectory to maintain a second pause. When training triceps, you can advise to use the entire range of motion and squeeze the muscles as much as possible.
For more details on the neuromuscular connection, see this video:
