Once you have finished reading this article you will be fully equipped to utilize the mythical Muscle-Mind connection, and blow your bro-split lifting buddies into the black abyss (aka being the beta).
When people think of building muscle they tend to think in either sprints or one main quest toward gains.
Bodybuilding, however, is not a linear Super Mario type game, it’s an open world RPG; and for any of you who’ve had the pleasure of playing, you know that without stopping your main quest and grinding by taking on Side Quests, you’ll have a rough go of trying to beat the entire game.
No, for all of us who’ve ever played any RPG worth its programming, we know that the key to achieving ultimate success is through taking on side quests.
Side Quest Available: Achieve Muscle-Mind Connection. Will you Accept?
We all have muscles that are incredibly difficult for us to connect to and others that are gains-hogs.
The difference is like trying playing an MMO on some 4GB low processing power laptop versus playing with an Alienware Aurora (or Corsair One): laggy AF.
But, unlike picking the best desktop or laptop for gaming, upgrading the processing speed and muscle-mind connection to those laggy muscles doesn’t require you to dig into your pockets or look at financing options. It only takes thinking outside the box.
The box I’m referring to is traditional bodybuilding splits and the modern ways of training one muscle group a week, and avoiding training any muscle group without giving it five days to recover first.
No, if you want to build up a muscle that you have trouble feeling, you have to do things a little differently. There are several techniques to do this, but let’s focus on one of them.
Lifting Sore
That’s right, lifting when you’re sore. For a long time now, I have dedicated my routine to doing it with arms because biceps were a weak point for me and I always had trouble feeling the muscle.
After a while of training them with the sort of frequency guys gave me flack for, I started to truly understand which exercises I could really connect on and which ones I’d likely never grow from.
How Training Sore for Muscle Growth Works
Likely, you’ve felt that day (or days) of tenderness in the muscle group you had hit the day previously. If you pressed your finger into your biceps or your chest, it wasn’t excruciating (don’t confuse this with injury), but you definitely felt its presence. It’s exhilarating, surely, and you can’t wait to hit them again next week. The problem is that if you have a training split that looks like:
- Monday: Chest
- Tuesday: Back
- Wednesday: Legs
- Thursday: Shoulders
- Friday: Arms
You won’t be tender by the time you return to those muscles later.
It’s the difference between going out with someone and getting to know them, then not seeing them again for another month instead of setting up a date for a time in the reasonably near future. Due to all life’s distractions, the two of you have become at least slightly unfamiliar.
Think of your laggy muscle like the new muscle-mind connection and the other muscle groups like life’s distractions.
You’ve lost that tenderness you felt the day after that great date and now you’re starting back at square one (or two, whatever).
Brings to mind a classic song: “You’ve lost that loving feeling, whoa, that lovin feeling. You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling, now it’s gone…gone…gone.”
You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling, by The Righteous Brothers,
But, say instead of waiting 4-7 days before training biceps again, you hit them the very next day with some lighter movements, solely focusing on the range of motion, angles, and tempos of each rep, you’re improving your familiarity with it. And just like building relationships with people of interest, improving the familiarity improves the relationship.
And for a bonus, try adding in
- BAMF for your pre-workout. It’s the perfect mix of nootropic and pre-workout
- Bullseye for enhanced cognitive function*
- Arginine for a better pump*
Pursue with Patience
Remember, a muscle-mind connection takes time. You might not see the results or muscle growth right away, but as I’ve stated before, this type of training is a Side Quest to gain the XP necessary to beat the game (or lay waste to your friends in PvP).
Bodybuilding is not just lifting weights and hoping for the best. That will yield size, but not symmetry. We want bodies that look like well thought out, inspired works of art sketched by Alex Ross or Steve Ditko themselves. To see one such success story read all about Jordan Brooks’ transformation.
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