Guide to Mind Muscle Connection and Hypertrophy

[DivaJana]

Basic rule

For bodybuilding purposes concentric phase(positive) and eccentric phase(negative) are the most important. However, exaggerating the concentric or eccentric phases will not have any extra benefits. While neglecting any of them will eliminate half the work.
Therefore, the basic rule of lifting is to lift as heavy as you can for your target repetitions, while keeping the weight under control during the whole exercise, and without exaggerating or neglecting any or both phases.


Isolation exercises

Compound exercises should be the core of any program. That being said, isolation are just as important and should be a part of any training regime past novice stage.
The reason a lot of individuals could only get very little out of this type of exercises is due to their slow progressive nature compared to compound exercises. This drives some trainees to rush the progress by cheating -which can be done much easier during this type of exercises- either by bringing another muscle(s) to assist the lift, using momentum to initiate the concentric phase and or neglecting the eccentric phase. This defeats the purpose of isolation, take the tension off the target muscle group and become counter productive. For this very reason when performing an isolation exercise drop your ego, use perfect form and keep your target muscle and ONLY your target muscle working. IOW, if you are going to be working a certain muscle group, WORK THIS MUSCLE GROUP!


Back

- Don't pull with your hands. Instead, pull with your elbows and shoulder blades. Imagine your hands as hooks attached to your elbows. IOW, pull your elbows and shoulder blades toward the floor(vertical pulling) or toward the ceiling(horizontal pulling).
- Imagine pulling your chest up toward the bar not your chins over the bar for lat Pulldowns/Pull ups and their variations.


Chest

- Tuck your shoulder blades together and have a natural arch, this will put your chest in a better position and limit the shoulders engagement.
- During presses, squeeze your chest and bring your hands closer to each others as you reach the top of the movement. Even if you are using barbell, although your hands will not be moving toward each other, but this squeeze will help maximizing the chest activation.
- When using Dumbbells, they don't have to touch each other which could interrupt the pressure. Instead just bring them slightly closer to each other on top compared to the bottom.
- During flys movements keep your hands over/beside your chest, apply the rules of isolation, maintain a slight bent in your elbows throughout the movement, and perform the exercise in a controlled manner. Don't bring your triceps and perform a pointless form of chest press.
- During presses tucking your elbows toward your torso as you lower the bar toward your chest, might slightly reduce your chest activation. But will keep your shoulders healthy.


Shoulders

- For this particular muscle group you have to use the most natural and comfortable grips and exercises on your joints. If you feel any pain or discomfort during ANY exercise you have to stop immediately and drop this exercise, you will always find more comfortable substitute.
- Lots of individuals likes to perform their shoulder exercises standing, this will not just make it easier for them to cheat, but also waste a lot of effort on your core stability. For bodybuilding purposes most shoulder exercises are best done seated with back supported.
- As usual be careful when targeting a single head of your deltoids, using too heavy weight or momentum will turn any posterior delt exercise into a pointless form of row, or will shift the emphasis to the traps during lateral delt exercises.
- Using wide grip for Upright Rows and it's variations will be much easier on your joints and will keep maximum emphasis on the deltoids and minimum on the traps.


Legs

- During leg pressing movements(Squats, Leg press, Lunges, Step ups, etc.) You should push through the middle of your foot. However, people tend to lean forward this is usually corrected by the common say "Push through your heels". If you find this hard to do then try to curl your toes upward.
- Play with your stance until you find the most comfortable one that allows you to hit depth and perform the exercise in a comfortable manner, while keeping in mind that wider stance will bring more adductors activation, placing your legs higher on the pad during Hack Squats, Leg press, etc, or further steps during Lunges will increase the hamstring activation while Placing your legs lower on the pad or shorter steps during Lunges will increase the emphasis on the quads.
- Same rules of isolation exercises will apply as well. During leg curls or leg extensions don't kick the weight. Instead, push or pull the weight in a controlled manner.


Biceps

- Don't swing or use momentum, instead focus on contracting your biceps.
- Supinating your hands will put maximum emphasis on the biceps while pronating them will shift more work toward your forearm, example (Hammer Curls and Reverse Curls). For this reason flat bars are superior to EZ ones for biceps activation. However, for some individuals this position can be hard on the wrist, thus the usage of EZ curl bar.
- DB and BB curls are the ultimate mass builders, and will give the best results for most individuals. You can slightly shift more emphasis toward the long head by using Close grip Curls, Preacher Curls, Concentration Curls or Hammer curls. Or toward the short head by using Wide grip Curls. But unless you are fairly advanced you shouldn't bother with that, instead find the most comfortable grips and exercises and stick to them.


Triceps

- Long head : Over head work such as DB Triceps Extension, Lying Triceps Extension, French Press.
- Medial head : Underhand exercise such as reverse grip Push Downs and underhand triceps Kickbacks.
- Lateral head : Regular presses such as close grip Bench Press, Dips, Cable Push Downs.
- Keep your upper arms stationary during Push Downs.
- Keep your torso straight during Push Downs and Dips.
- Keep your elbows tucked in toward your torso during presses such as CG BP and Dips.
- Use lighter weights for medial head exercises (it's a small muscle).


Traps

- Move up and down in a controlled manner.
- Line up your hands with your target portion of the traps and pull in straight line. Example, to work the posterior portion of the traps use regular Barbell Shrugs, for the anterior portion use Behind The Back Shrugs, to shift the emphasis toward the outer part of the traps use wider grip, while to shift the emphasis toward the inner part use close grip. Yet again you don't need to bother with endless trap work variations. Instead, pick a basic 1-2 exercise(s) and stick to it/them, until you are advanced enough.



Forearms & Calves

- Although genetics plays a major role in those muscle groups, you can still mange to increase their size by working them directly.
- Forearms & Calves are under pressure all the time, therefore for most individuals they will respond best to higher rep ranges than other muscle groups.
- When doing wrist curls(wrist flexors), don't neglect the reverse wrist curls(wrist extensors).
- To achieve full calves development you need to work Soleus muscle(seated/knees bent), Gastrocnemius muscle(standing) and Tibialis Anterior(reverse calf raises).
- During calve exercises squeeze at the top and pause for 1-2 secs at the bottom. Don't bounce to avoid achilles tendon from doing most of the work.


Picking exercises

- Most important thing to keep in mind; there are NO must do exercises. Some will work better than others, but there will always be various substitutes/choices. If you feel uncomfortable doing a certain exercise, immediately drop it. Because it is not worth the risk. If you can't feel certain exercise in your target muscle(s) or don't feel like it is working for you, first do your best to correct your form, if you still can't benefit from the exercise, then find another one.
- Same thing goes for rep ranges; Muscle groups are composed of a mixture of slow-twitching and fast-twitching fibers where the percentage and dominance of a single type varies significantly among different muscles and different individuals. Slow-twitching fibers requires lighter weights and more reps while fast-twitching fibers requires heavier weights and less reps for best results. That being said, if you couldn't get the best results for a certain muscle group from a certain rep range, try different one!
- Don't neglect machines. Although machines eliminate the stabilizing muscles, this allows maximum amount of weight to be used on the target muscle being isolated. They also allows variety of options that are not possible with free weights. Well rounded bodybuilding program should have place for both machines and free weights.
-The best exercise, rep range, or program in general for you; Will always be the one you are going to stick to for as long as possible while progressing.


Bodybuilding is a life-time journey. Don't rush results; trials, errors and patience are the tools of success.

[BZBantam]

Good post

[71Avido]

Excellent post, repped.

[chazzy1864]

MMC is a myth and training for hypertrophy is for *******s.


HTH.

[oldballs]

Nope. There are a lot of good cheating techniques that can lead to better results. Negitives, leg drive, forced reps, partial reps, momentum,ect, ect. All of these techniques can lead to the target muscle doing more work the you otherwise would of been able to do. This " keeping the weight under control works the muscle harder " stuff just isnt true.

[iownaniroc]

Honest...only read the first couple text blocks. Assumed rest was great. Repped

--Mike

[ZoranM]

A sticky!

[jd2967]

Nope. There are a lot of good cheating techniques that can lead to better results. Negitives, leg drive, forced reps, partial reps, momentum,ect, ect. All of these techniques can lead to the target muscle doing more work the you otherwise would of been able to do. This " keeping the weight under control works the muscle harder " stuff just isnt true.

Repped.

[greenswimmer]

A sticky!

Please! Agreed!

[Rasputin4]

Nope. There are a lot of good cheating techniques that can lead to better results. Negitives, leg drive, forced reps, partial reps, momentum,ect, ect. All of these techniques can lead to the target muscle doing more work the you otherwise would of been able to do. This " keeping the weight under control works the muscle harder " stuff just isnt true.

Maybe, but I'd only suggest advanced lifters to attempt this, more often than not people using any form of cheating are doing it for the wrong reasons and in the wrong way. I'd also only suggest it if changing rep schemes and exercise selection and getting diet in check doesn't work.

[Rasputin4]

Please! Agreed!

-x3

[Tb0282]

Great thread

[-Lucifer]

there are NO must do exercises.

Nonsense. ATG squatz or die!

[NZninja101]

A lot of this is really good

Nope. There are a lot of good cheating techniques that can lead to better results. Negitives, leg drive, forced reps, partial reps, momentum,ect, ect. All of these techniques can lead to the target muscle doing more work the you otherwise would of been able to do. This " keeping the weight under control works the muscle harder " stuff just isnt true.

but I've got to agree with this in some regard. My personal philosophy is that as long as your target muscle is still the weak link in the movement, you're good, (but I use strict form anyway). Of course good form should basically always be desired on things like squats and presses and such for injury prevention.


however despite this, I'd just tell a noob to do relatively 'strict' form on evrything so they get a hang of the movements, what they're trying to stimulate, and so they don't screw up and hurt themselves.

[Singularity7]

So many people at my gym clap the dumbbells together it is ridiculous how exaggerated they do it.

A lot of this is really good
but I've got to agree with this in some regard. My personal philosophy is that as long as your target muscle is still the weak link in the movement, you're good, (but I use strict form anyway). Of course good form should basically always be desired on things like squats and presses and such for injury prevention.


however despite this, I'd just tell a noob to do relatively 'strict' form on evrything so they get a hang of the movements, what they're trying to stimulate, and so they don't screw up and hurt themselves.

I have a friend that tries to justify his high squat depth by saying you don't need to do good form. His only answer was look at Branch Warrens form and look at how big he is.
He is a certified personal trainer as well and it kind of got me rustled when he talked about how he was scared of my squats.

[cumminslifter]

A sticky!

agreed

[-Lucifer]

I have a friend that tries to justify his high squat depth by saying you don't need to do good form. His only answer was look at Branch Warrens form and look at how big he is.

Does your ignorant friend know that Branch Warren is not natty?

[Singularity7]

Does your ignorant friend know that Branch Warren is not natty?

Yes i just didn't bother mentioning it because he seemed pretty butthurt.

[Kcabo]

In on 1st page.

[Engineer_Guy]

I disagree that you need both a concentric and eccentric to have an effective exercise. There is a lot of benefit to doing concentric only exercises. And there are times when an eccentric only is useful.

Also I think the thread title is misleading. It's not really a guide to anything. It's more like general tips when working muscle groups.

[xRibs]

Great info. Stuff most people new to bodybuilding won't know, understand, or follow.

[pyaarawala]

Great article! I don't think the title's misleading at all. Should be a sticky

[chazzy1864]

A lot of this is really good
but I've got to agree with this in some regard. My personal philosophy is that as long as your target muscle is still the weak link in the movement, you're good, (but I use strict form anyway). Of course good form should basically always be desired on things like squats and presses and such for injury prevention.


however despite this, I'd just tell a noob to do relatively 'strict' form on evrything so they get a hang of the movements, what they're trying to stimulate, and so they don't screw up and hurt themselves.

While oldballs post is correct, this thread is geared towards newbs soo...... yeah.

[NZninja101]

While oldballs post is correct, this thread is geared towards newbs soo...... yeah.

Good.

[Kcabo]

While oldballs post is correct, this thread is geared towards newbs soo...... yeah.

It's too bad newbs just make endless threads instead of reading stickies, and using the search feature -_____-

[DJAuto]

Good thread. Often, simply fortifying the mind-muscle connection is a surefire way to ensure the "pump" and proper targeting for those who are having issues with both.

[-Lucifer]

While oldballs post is correct, this thread is geared towards newbs soo...... yeah.

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.

[Cruiser]

Good post; Repped.

Cruiser

[ZoranM]

bunp

[Helenthor]

great post.