Have a question? It is funny how often I see people in the gym mindlessly working out on machines or using free weights.
I can see them spaced out, thinking about anything else besides the task that they are performing.
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Sometimes I even see them chitchatting with friends while mindlessly lifting weights or going through the movements.
It is rare for me to see somebody focusing on what they are doing while performing an exercise. And when I see people who are concentrated, you can tell by their physique.
The other type of individual that does not focus on a mind-muscle connection is the people lifting too much weight for their own good.
When you are lifting a weight that is too heavy for the specific exercise you perform, you tend to bring every muscle group into play to lift the weight.
In these situations, the lifter’s form is horrible. This scenario has no mind-muscle connection because your body is in survival mode and is recruiting every single muscle they can essentially “not die”!
Another example of people not focusing on the muscle group being trained is the “Speedy Gonzalez” weightlifters.
These people lift weights as fast as possible because they want to finish the workout. These people are also not focusing on what muscle groups they are training.
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This article has one sole purpose: to prepare your clients mentally for success by building the mind-muscle connection between their brains and muscles for the exercises at hand.
I have three essential tips to help you and your clients reach this goal. I became a personal trainer to help my clients get results; this is very important in helping them achieve their goals! Let’s jump right into it!
1: Avoid weights that are too heavy for your clients
The quickest way for someone to lose their mind-muscle connection while lifting weights is by performing a lift using more weight than they can handle.
The only thing that your client will be thinking about if the weight is too heavy is, “How can I get this weight up without it crushing me”!
Even if the weight is too heavy, your client most likely won’t tell you because they don’t want to look wimpy in front of their personal trainer.
It is up to you to start with a lower weight and progress them at a rate they can handle. They should be using lightweight and focusing on the form the whole time.
An easy way to tell if they are developing a mind-muscle connection is if they are using light weights, have perfect form, are moving the weight slowly, and come close to failure.
If all of these are in place, you can almost guarantee they are starting to develop the mind-muscle connection you want.
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2: Slow down the tempo of the exercise
As I mentioned above, this is incredibly important when developing a mind muscle connection.
Most clients I have ever trained tend to speed up the tempo automatically without even thinking about it.
I’m unsure if this comes from the fact that they want the workout to be done sooner, or they start spacing out, and their body reacts by speeding up the repetitions.
It would be best to remind them to “slow everything down!”. You need to ensure they count the seconds on each movement’s eccentric and concentric parts.
If you want, you can have your clients go unusually slow when you are just starting out with them, so when they start speeding up; they will still be slower than if you had given them no instructions about repetition timing.
Another tip I have is to have your clients focus even harder on the eccentric part of the motion.
This is an excellent tip because most individuals let gravity take over and just let the weight fall. If they focus on controlling the way on the way down, their muscles will do extra work, and they will definitely “feel the burn.”
This is an excellent start to building the mind-muscle connection that they need!
3: Keep the talking to a minimum during their sets
As I mentioned in my introduction paragraph, it is straightforward to spot people that are not focusing on their muscles because they are chitchatting with their friends.
If you have a client with a strong tendency to want to talk during the set, remind them to finish the set before asking a question.
They need 100% focus on the muscle group and exercise at hand. You need to let them know this first thing.
Teach them exactly what muscle they should be focusing on for each exercise. Explain to them how one muscle group stretches during the eccentric part of the motion while another is contracting!
The more visuals they have on what is going on with the muscles, the better they can connect the dots!
If your client tends to wander around by looking at distractions at the gym, have them close their eyes without visual disturbances!
Conclusion on the mind-muscle connection!
This is one of the most important skills you can teach your clients for them to have fantastic results from an aesthetic perspective.
This also comes in handy if you are teaching a large group. You could show these principles to everyone simultaneously before starting the class.
In my opinion, this is one of the most overlooked aspects of personal training, and if you can master the mind-muscle connection with your clients, they will see incredible results.
Let me know if you have any questions by shooting me a comment down below. I would love to hear more ideas about the mind-muscle connection and tips for other articles I should write.
What do you guys want to learn about? Also, check out some of my other popular articles, such as wages you can make as a trainer and the best certification agencies to choose from; this is my most recent report on how to become a health coach! Happy personal training!
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Tyler Read
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