INBA NSW
Last weekend was the INBA NSW Titles which was held at the University of New South Wales. I had two clients competing at this show - Aaron and Jonathon. These clients also competed three weeks earlier at the ANB Newcastle Titles (you can check out my run down of that show in an earlier blog).
Aaron has dieted hard in the three weeks between his shows and he did end up improving his condition between then and now. Unfortunately it wasn't enough for him to place on the day but I am proud of his effort and achievement regardless. Aaron has now completed his 2015 contest season and
is enjoying some much earned food!
Aaron on stage (green trunks, 5th from right)
With Aaron after the show
Jonathon competed also and won Open Class 3 (height class) which qualified him for the Overall. Unfortunately Jonathon didn't walk away with the overall title on Sunday. It was a close round (they came up with a tie the first time they judged it so had to rejudge all the mandatory poses). I thought he deserved the win but that's not the way the judging went in the end. At the end of the day it was a great outcome for Jonathon and myself and we are looking forward to bringing a better package to the last few shows of the season.
Jonathon on stage in the overall (winner on left)
After the show with the Muscle Academy boys Jonathon and Aaron
Mind Muscle Connection
This is something I want to write about because I think it is often misinterpreted. In fact I think some people take it almost literally, in that they think that your mind actually goes into your muscle. Muscles don't have minds and your mind can't enter a muscle so that doesn't happen lol.
Anyway back on topic, what I see a lot of at the gym and in fitness media is people focusing on the squeeze of a muscle and how it feels. This is usually placed at a high priority and the amount of weight used is often brushed off as being unimportant. This way of approaching weight training is completely backwards. I'm not saying that being aware of which muscles are contracting and focusing on them is unimportant but it certainly should not be the number one priority at the expense of things which are more important (like say the load being lifted for example!). If load isn't important why not just do the exercises with an imaginary bar or dumbbells but with a perfect, hard squeeze? Surely lifting air weights would cause hypertrophy if load isn't important and the squeeze is crucial. But in reality we know that doesn't happen. And I don't know about you guys but that's where I like to live - reality.
What is the mind muscle connection?
The mind muscle connection is in my opinion largely just using good form via contraction of the correct muscles. If you use good form then in most cases the correct muscles are by default doing the work that they should be doing. Pretty simple right?
Can you use correct form by using the wrong muscles?
Yes and no. You can have form that looks like or is close to textbook form. However it is likely that there will be small differences between the correct movement and the false movement. For example you can do a machine row by primarily pulling with your lats and scapula retractors and having the biceps help by performing the function of flexion at the elbow joint. You could also do the same movement by using primarily the biceps to pull the handle hard and having the momentum carry it through. Of course the lats are still going to contract to some degree to extend the shoulder joint but the movement is being initiated and driven by the biceps which should be a secondary mover in this case, not a primary mover. For this example I'd suggest that you wouldn't see much active scapula (retraction) movement happening. The movements are similar but when you look at the details they are different. The latter one is false and not correct form at all.
Does it matter if I can't "feel" my muscle working?
This depends on a few things. The first thing to consider is the exercise. If you are performing a high bar squat with correct form for example and you cannot feel your quads very much
it doesn't really matter. The fact that you are using correct form means that the quads are working to extend the knees (as are the glutes and hamstrings to extend the hips). All of those muscles are working together to perform the movement so chances are you won't feel each individual contraction. Whereas if you are performing an isolation movement such as a lying hamstring curl and you can't feel your hamstrings working, you might need to focus more on the contraction of the hamstrings, reassess your technique and maybe even lower the weight a little.
The second thing to consider is the rep range you are working in. If you are working in a really high rep range you are going to accumulate a lot more metabolic by products and so when you reach the last few reps you will feel it a lot. Working in a low rep range it will be difficult and your muscles will be contracting with maximal force but you won't "feel the burn" a whole lot. Not feeling it doesn't mean that the muscles aren't contracting.
The third thing to think about is how well individual muscles contract for you. This is something you can only discover by experience through visual, tactile and sensory feedback. For example in my case I have a lot more trouble contracting my right hamstring as well as my left hamstring. In this case I need to focus a lot more on the contraction of my right hamstring in order for it to be effective. If I don't "feel" it contracting it's actually somewhat of a concern (in that I need to ensure it is
contracting).
Should steroids change anything?
Again, yes and no. Yes because training while on drugs is different to training without drugs, no because to "optimise" results the priorities of training (eg progressive overload) should still reign supreme. It's very common for me to see the situation I described earlier amongst enhanced folk (focusing 100% on the squeeze and thinking weight doesn't matter). I commonly see guys on steroids doing the hack squat with 10 kg on each side. Yes seriously 10 kg on each side! I'm certain I could lift that much the first day I ever stepped into the gym. Chances are I could have even lifted it when I was 10 years old. This isn't about me bragging but there are multiple enhanced guys I see regularly who should be stronger than me. They should be blowing me out of the water when it comes to strength. But they aren't and often I am lifting 2, 3, 4, 5 times as much as them depending on the exercise. I put this down to their training style (the squeeze with light weights). They are on drugs and lifting weights so of course they experience results (quite reasonable results in some cases). That's the power of anabolic steroids for you. But really they are just cruising on the drugs, letting the drugs cause most of the growth whilst doing just enough in the gym to help it along. The benefit to doing this is that it is safer ie they will experience results without any significant risk of mechanical injury.
In my opinion though that isn't the point of steroid use. The point of using drugs in bodybuilding is to aid you in increasing your performance so that you can achieve greater than normal levels of muscle mass and at an accelerated rate. So the priority for enhanced bodybuilders should really be the same as it is for natural bodybuilders ie becoming as strong as possible within relevant rep ranges with good form so as to develop maximum muscle mass (not just the muscle mass that is developed by synthetically raised hormone levels).
Note: this is not a "how to" for drug use and being a natural bodybuilder I don't know very much about drugs. The point is rather that if you are on drugs you should maximise their benefits rather than just cruise fairly passively on the results that they help to bring - and that is done by knowing, prioritising and applying basic training principles.
On that note, I will leave it there for this week. Have some input? Let me know in the comments section or on social media.
Muscle Academy contact details:
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- Evan
