What to think in training to get stronger and build muscle faster

You can go to the bar, laughing at a joke, and during the bench press to recall the recent quarrel. Lots of people do. But if you do not want to just deal with and see real progress on the movements you need to concentrate.

You focus on what you can during exercise

While driving, you can look inside to pay, or send it out.

1. Internal focus. It covers the feeling of his own body: muscle tension, control of the position of the limbs, breathing. If the coach says to you, "Strain buttocks," "Divorce lap in hand "or" inflates the stomach ", it shifts your focus inward.

2.External concentration. In this case, your thoughts, on the contrary, aim at objects that surround you: free weights, floor, walls, imaginary objects. It is important that you should be focused not on these things in themselves, namely, the result of the movement or task to be executed.

To shift attention outside, suitable recommendations like "repulsive floor with their feet", "Imagine that under the arms clamped oranges", "bar must be held in a vertical line straight up."

concentration of species should depend on your fitness goals. We took turns Let us examine them and make recommendations.

Why focus on external objects

Our consciousness - a piece clumsy. When you think about your muscles and try to control them, you are preventing the body to do its job.

If you concentrate on the outer problem, such as "raise the dumbbell to the level of a person", the body automatically straining biceps shoulder - a muscle that is needed for this and (agonist). In the same time triceps - muscle extensor elbow (antagonist), - relaxes so as not to interfere with the biceps.

But if your job is not to "lift a dumbbell," and "strain the biceps," the triceps do not relaxNeuromuscular effects of shifting the focus of attention in a simple force production task so effectively. Suffers muscular coordination, and with it the productivity.

In addition, control of consciousness makes you exert more fibersEMG activity as a function of the performer's focus of attentionThan is necessary for the movement. You spend more energy and get tired faster. Therefore, for most fitness goals right for an external focus - when you concentrate on the task and allows the body to how to act.

Focusing on the result of increases strengthAttentional focusing instructions influence force production and muscular activity during isokinetic elbow flexions, The Effects of Attentional Focusing Instructions on Force Production During the Isometric Midthigh Pull, the rangeStanding Long Jump Performance With an External Focus of Attention Is Improved as a Result of a More Effective Projection Angle jumps and speedExperience level influences the effect of attentional focus on sprint performance sprint, it helpsInstructions to adopt an external focus enhance muscular endurancedo more reps to failure muscles with a heavy weight approach.

shift focus attention outside, you will increaseThinking about your running movement makes you less efficient: attentional focus effects on running economy and kinematics running economy and strength training - will be able to do the same work with less effort, improveAttentional focus and motor learning: A review of 15 years their results in any sport that requires skill, accuracy, a good sense of balance, endurance and power. Also, the concentration of foreign helpInstructions for motor learning: differential effects of internal versus external focus of attention quickly learn a movement, so often used in coaching.

It seems that the direction of attention to muscles only hinders progress and it is necessary to focus exclusively on external objects. But another reason periodically shifts the focus is still there.

Why focus on the body

In bodybuilding practiceAttentional Focus for Maximizing Muscle Development strengthening the mind-muscle (mind-muscle connection), when during exercise tense you consciously what you want to pump. And it really helps.

To understand how this works, it is necessary to recall the mechanism of hypertrophy. Fibers prepared for growth signal when experiencing mechanical stress and fatigued.

The more fibers will work and weary, the more protein synthesis after exercise and muscle becomes thicker.

As mentioned above, during the concentration of the outer body straining just what you need. And if you connect the consciousness, the tension increases: while exercises workThe acute and chronic effects of «NO LOAD» resistance training and agonists and antagonists. This reduces efficiency, but increasesAttentional focusing instructions influence force production and muscular activity during isokinetic elbow flexions, Attentional Focus for Maximizing Muscle Development general activation of the muscles and makes her tired.

Moreover, even in those parts of the work will turn on, which is not commonly used. One and the same muscle isA histochemical analysis of identified compartments of cat lateral gastrocnemius muscle from different types of fibers. They even innervatedMorphometric properties and innervation of muscle compartments in rat medial gastrocnemius different motor neurons, so one exercise does not work the whole muscle, but only those of its regions which are ideally suited for this task. They have an incentive to growth, they are also increasing in size.

Conscious control helps to use other muscle fibers are not effective for this move. As a result, you increase performance weight, But provide incentives for the growth of large number of fibers.

This is trueImportance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training when working with small loads - up to 60% of the limit, you can lift at one time. Approximately selected bodybuilders and weight, operating at 12-14 in a suitable time.

By focusing on your body, you build muscle almost twice as fastDifferential effects of attentional focus strategies during long-term resistance trainingThan when the focus on external objects.

However, in bodybuilding it is not necessary to focus constantly on his body. Internal focus can prevent you from working to add weight when you need it, or do more reps to failure muscles.

That you choose

Choose the mode of concentration needed, focusing on their objectives:

• Keep the attention on external objects, to increase the efficiency of movement and results in any form sport.
• Combine the outer and inner foci for maximum muscle building. Include external concentration when the weight increase or perform an approach to failure of muscles, and in other cases, direct inward attention.