(images from School of Gainz Elite Training Program Ebook)

2) Intent!

Having an intrinsic focus and consciously placing your efforts on contracting your muscle is crucial. When performing an exercise, in a moderate rep range (i.e. 8-12 repetitions) you will not need to activate every muscle fiber in order to complete the rep from point A (starting position) to point B (end position), but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to. Focus your efforts on contracting your muscle with as much intensity as possible. Going through the motions isn’t what’s going to create the physique you’re trying to build; focus on the task at hand and maximize your efforts. If moving the bar from point A to point B is your goal – an extrinsic focus will serve you best; if activating as many motor units as possible is your goal – an intrinsic focus will serve you best.

The great Arnold Schwarzenegger once said “I think the biggest mistake people make is that they go to the gym and just go through the motions; They don’t have their mind inside the muscle. There were guys next to me who trained just as long as I did, but they looked like shit because they didn’t concentrate. They did the same exercises that I did, but they weren’t paying attention. They didn’t know why they were training; they weren’t inside their biceps. You have to be inside the muscle.”

3) Isometrics & Isolation Movements

Something as simple as an isometric contraction can drastically improve your mind-muscle-connection. I’m not saying that isometric contractions themselves are going to provide you with a stimulus large enough to grow; however, if it enables you to increase muscle activation on your progressive resistance exercise, that certainly can lead to novel growth. If you have a hard time “feeling” a particular muscle during an exercise(s), try performing 5-10 reps of 3-5 second isometric contractions before performing the isotonic exercise.

Performing activation exercises (commonly referred to as primers) to start off your training session may be a great technique to improve your performance throughout the training session. Since many people have a hard time feeling their lats, here’s an example of how to activate your lats before getting into your normal resistance training program.



Stand with your back against a wall, with your arms down by your side, depress your shoulder girdle (as if you’re reaching down the side of your leg – punching down towards the floor), and extend at your shoulder joint, forcefully pushing your arm back into the wall, you should feel your lats engage right away, hold this contraction for 3-5 second. Try to get a stronger isometric contraction with each rep.

Another good activation exercise is performing “iso-holds” with low loads in the fully shortened position of isolation exercises. Using the lats as an example again, performing a straight arm cable pull down and holding the contraction at the end portion of the range while trying to increase intramuscular tension for 3-5 seconds can also be used. This can be done with any pure isolation exercise, preferably one that overloads the shortened portion, to help enhance neuromuscular drive. Another example would be performing light cable flys and holding the contraction in the fully shortened position for 3-5 seconds while consciously trying to increase activation. Babault et al. (1) demonstrated that maximal isometric contractions can recruit 5-7% more muscle fibers compared to maximal concentric and eccentric contractions respectively.

Some people may ask, are these “activation exercises” the same thing as pre-exhausting techniques?



My answer is no.

Although both, activation techniques and pre-exhaust training utilize isolation exercises before getting into the compound lifts, I recommend cutting your set short, way before getting close to failure. This technique isn’t meant to cause any peripheral fatigue or muscle damage. The goal here is simply to activate and improve upon your mind muscle connection through neural excitation.

Lastly, if you are a competitive bodybuilder, isometric training and posing go hand in hand. They both can complement each other and should be included in your overall programming.

4) Initiate the movement with the target muscle!

As this key goes hand in hand with intent, a good tip is to initiate both the eccentric and concentric contraction with the muscle you’d like to target. For example, if your aim is to maximize tension on the quadriceps when squatting, it is often recommended that you “break at the knee”. If you want to maximize chest activity in the bench press, it is important to initiate the concentric with the pectoralis muscles firing first. Try flexing the target muscle before even concentrically moving the load.

5) Slow it down!

It is common to see trainees lose tension on the negative (eccentric) portion of the lift. They often let the load control their body mechanics, rather than keeping the muscular contractions in control the load. If you can not control the load you’re working with on the eccentric portion of the lift, then it’s too heavy.

I’m often shocked and even puzzled when I see trainees successfully perform the concentric portion of the lift while being unable to control the eccentric portion of the lift with that same load. Start performing negatives with more control while focusing on keeping the tension where you want it.

So to wrap it up, leave your ego at the door when entering the gym and reevaluate the efficiency of your training time.



In my experience, my clients tend to make exponential progress in the early stages of our relationship by applying these 5 tips I’ve shared with you today. The next time you hit the gym, get ready to experience the pump of your life and connect with your musculature like you never have in the past. I absolutely love the scientific application we use in bodybuilding, but I also try to keep the beauty and artistic side of it alive.

“Anything the mind can conceive and believe; the body can achieve.”

Take the following steps to enhance your mind muscle connection and maximize how many muscle fibers are stimulated throughout each rep.

1) Improve your understanding of anatomy and kinesiology, then “connect the dots”.

2) Intent + Intrinsic Focus – think about what you’re trying to target and be in tune with your inner being.

3) Isometrics + Isoholds – use these tools as muscle activation exercises to start off your training session.

4) Initiate the contraction with the target muscle.

5) Slow it down – don’t let the weight control you, you control the weight.

I hope you enjoyed this article.

For more training information check out my programs and free workouts.

In my training ebooks, I cover some of the topics discussed in this article. I cover anatomy and provide a lot of execution cues and tips to help you better connect with the target muscle. Moreover, I provide reasoning for my exercise selection, sequence and overall programming.