|
Stuck
in a rut? Hit a plateau? It's
time to stop phoning in your workout
and put some BRAINPOWER into action.
One
of the most common issues I see
with people in the gym, ESPECIALLY
those who are having trouble getting
results, is a lack of mental focus
on the exercises they're performing.
Sure,
they're going through the motions
and in a lot of cases even lifting
a substantial amount of weight...but
what they don't realize is that
by really engaging their BRAIN
in the act of lifting they could
be getting MUCH better results
with the same amount of effort.
|
 |
So to
help with that, I've put together a
list of my favorite "mental notes"
for some of the most common exercises
in the gym...using this can make an
immediate difference in your exercise
performance and even add some substantial
weight to your lifts!
1. Bench Press - Push Your Body Through
the Floor
Instead
of focusing on pushing the BAR away
from you, try imagining as though the
bar is stationary and you're pushing
your BODY down through the floor. This
mentally changes the bench press exercise
from an open-chain
movement (where the resistance is
moving and your body stays stationary)
to a closed-chain
movement (where the hand or foot
is fixed and cannot move and your body
is all or part of the resistance, like
a push-up).
Closed-chain
movements are more effective for muscle
fiber activation and by at least MENTALLY
changing the movement to a closed-chain
exercise, you can potentially achieve
some of the benefits of it.
2. Deadlifts - Fall
Backwards
When doing
a straight bar deadlift, as you're pulling
the bar up your shins, mentally picture
yourself falling/shifting your weight
backwards as you're pulling up. This
helps improve the leverage of the lift,
using your bodyweight to help get the
bar up. When you just pull straight
up, you don't get this advantage. And
wear long socks or pants if you don't
want deadlifting "battle scars"
up and down your shins because that
bar should stay as close to your legs
as possible :)
3. Squats - Pull Down
on the Bar
To lock
your torso and core into the squat,
grip the bar HARD and pull down on it
as you squat. Imagine like you're trying
to bend that bar in half over your back.
This locks the back muscles into a more
solid position and helps stabilize the
torso during the squat. This is especially
critical as you start moving heavier
weights in order to protect your spine.
4. Seated Cable Rows
- Push Your Sternum into the Handle
To really
maximize the contraction in the lats
and other upper back muscles when doing
a cable row, when you come to the top
of the movement, instead of focusing
on pulling your shoulders back and in
(which is still effective, don't get
me wrong), actively try to push your
sternum (breastbone) into the cable
handle. I find this gives an even stronger
contraction than trying to pull the
elbows in as it gives you a goal in
FRONT of you to focus on achieving.
The back contraction then happens automatically.
5. Barbell Curls -
Push Elbows Together
At the
top of a standing barbell curl, hold
that position for a few seconds and
try this...push your elbows together
as though trying to touch them together.
Because your hands are locked onto the
bar, I find this increases the contraction
by attempting to increase the degree
of supination of the forearm. Even though
it may not actually increase the supination,
the act of TRYING is what will force
the greater contraction.
It works
because the OTHER major function of
the bicep muscle is supination (elbow
flexion is the first), which is basically
rotation your hand from a palms-down
position to a palms-up position. This
elbow trick at the top works that supination
function.
6. Seated Dumbell
Shoulder Press - Bring Your Chest Up
to Meet the Dumbells
When doing
this exercise, as you lower the dumbells
into the bottom position, I want you
take a deep breath in and try to mentally
focus on bringing the chest UP to meet
the dumbells while keeping your shoulder
girdle DOWN. It's important when doing
this that you bring the dumbells ALL
the way down as far as you can...until
they almost touch your shoulders.
This trick
will force you to reduce the weight
you're using but it's going to work
the actual shoulder muscles twice as
hard and take the emphasis off the triceps,
which tend to take over in the shortened
range of motion that most people gravitate
to with this exercise (because they
can use more weight).
It works
by increasing the amount of stretch
that gets put on the deltoids at the
bottom - shoulder girdle down and chest
up is what does it. It'll be humbling
at first but work with it and your shoulder
development will SKYROCKET.
7. Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
- Raise the Toes and/or Paw the Ground
This exercise
is notoriously hard for people to feel
the hamstrings working. I used to have
this problem myself for a LONG time
so don't feel bad if it's happened to
you. I've got two techniques for this
one...one is actually physical and the
other is mental.
The physical
trick is to elevate your forefeet...I
usually use foam wedges or a couple
of 25 lb plates. Set your heels on the
floor and set your forefoot area on
the raised edges of the plates, similar
to a calf stretch...and this works BECAUSE
it puts a stretch on your calves. Now
do the exercise. I felt this in my hamstrings
the very first time I did it.
The mental
trick is to imagine pawing the ground
with your feet as you start the lift.
Think of a bull about to charge and
it's pawing the ground....essentially,
you're to activating the hamstrings
at the hip by attempting to produce
forward motion. Since you're planted
on the ground, you're not going to be
going forward but the mental intention
to move forward will result in hamstring
activation.
And if
you put BOTH of these tricks together,
your hamstrings will be SINGING when
you're doing SLDL's :)
CONCLUSION:
Give these
mental tricks a try next time you train
any of these exercises and you'll know
what it means to LOOK like you're doing
everything the same yet FEELING like
you're doing a completely different
exercise.
I can
promise you'll feel your muscles working
a way they've never worked before and
you will BLAST past strength and muscle
plateaus.
