6 Simple Tips to Develop a Strong Mind Muscle Connection

It can potentially make your lagging muscle group one of the leading ones

When I started working out, my biceps grew rapidly while my triceps barely progressed. Fast forward a few years and my biceps had become disproportionately bigger than the rest of my physique.

Hearing things like “Those are some enviable biceps man”, “Your arms aren’t just biceps, work on your triceps as well, buddy”, “Stop training your biceps dude” became commonplace.

I shrugged it off as just genetics. I trained my triceps as much as I did my biceps so what else could it be?

Well, genetics did play a part but turns out there was something else at play as well — I naturally had a powerful mind-muscle connection with my biceps while I couldn’t even feel my triceps properly.

After realizing this, I focused on developing a connection with my triceps and despite it not being anywhere close to what I have with my biceps, it has become stronger and my triceps have improved dramatically.

A strong mind-muscle connection can make all the difference, research shows that it can improve muscle activation by anywhere between 20% to 60%. Here are 5 tips to develop one.

1. Drop the Weight

I love lifting heavy. Maxing out the stack in the cable station or loading a barbell till it’s whipping like rubber afford me unparalleled pleasure and make me feel like a king.

Who doesn’t love lifting heavy? But often, our ego gets the best of us, we throw the form out of the window and focus on the weight instead of the muscle.

When you reduce the weight, you can control it better and as a result, switch back your focus from the weight to the muscle.

So, swallow your ego and drop the weight. I did the same and my triceps now thank me.

2. Touch the Muscle

My upper chest had been a muscle I struggled to connect with. Except for incline presses, I had trouble activating them on any other exercise. For example, on the low to high cable flies, I felt my shoulders instead of my upper pecs.

I switched to the single-arm variation and started touching and even lightly tapping my upper pec region with my free hand. Lo and behold! The difference was real.

Touching or haptic feedback can better direct your attention to the muscle, improve attentional focus and hence help you control it better. So when performing unilateral exercises, use your free hand and when performing bilateral exercises, have your workout partner or anyone else help out.

3. Visualize Each Rep

Earlier, when my main tricep movement used to be the close grip bench press, I would load it up, violently let it drop and then blindly push with all my might.

My triceps would feel barely worked but my shoulders and chest would get fatigued.

I dropped the weight, slowed down the descent, and tried to visualize my elbow moving, my tricep working and the weight moving up. In other words, every rep was mindful.

Sure, the weight and reps were lesser but my triceps were being worked, not other muscles.

4. Use The Mirror

A mirror can greatly help with the visualization process. When I started doing slow-controlled single-arm tricep pushdowns in front of a mirror, the mirror helped me keep my form in my check and see the muscle working.

We, humans, are all to some or other extent, narcissists deep within and we don’t like any image more than our own. As a result, working out in front of a mirror can keep you hooked and even motivate you.

So, use the mirror — to motivate you, to help you visualize the muscle being worked, and to critique your form.

5. Slow Down Each Rep

As an innately “explosive” lifter, I find pride in how quickly I can do a rep. Despite all its upsides, this had a big downside — the faster the rep, the lesser the control.

Blasting out of the bottom in close grip bench felt good but the object — working my triceps wasn’t being achieved optimally.

Slowing down each rep is like recording something in slow motion. You can perceive the movement and in this case, the muscle working much better. An added benefit is that this can help muscle growth as it increases the time under tension.

6. Flex in Between Sets

At the risk of looking like a douchey show-off or a wannabe bodybuilder, I never bothered with flexing or posing. But flexing isn’t only for jacked and oiled-up dudes on stage in speedos.

Flexing is essentially deliberately contracting the muscle and can hence help develop control over the particular muscle group. I started flexing my triceps, holding the flex for a few seconds, and repeating a few times before my sets and I could control them better.

Moreover, flexing increases the blood flow to the muscles which improves muscle oxygenation and subsequent growth. Additionally, research shows that flexing alone can actually even build muscle.

Final Thoughts

If you have a lagging muscle group, don’t be quick to blame it on genetics. It could be genetics but it also could be the lack of a strong mind-muscle connection.

A strong connection can not only be beneficial for a lagging muscle group but for any muscle group in general. Drop the weight, slow down each rep, touch the muscle, visualize it working, flex in between sets, and look in the mirror.

Like all good things, it will take time to develop, so be patient.

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