The marriage of mind & muscle**

I lifted weights for almost six years before I opened my personal training studio.

Yet, even with all those years behind me, I naively thought none of it had become second nature.

I *always* spent time with clients discussing form, breathing, tempo, stretching etc. before we even hoisted a weight.

I was aware of the importance of laying a solid foundation with my clients’ training information-wise and only then putting all we’d discussed into practice.

I young. I was prideful.

I didnt realize any of this until I had an interaction with a client which made me do the ole *facepalm* at my failing to address the importance of the mind/body connection.

I was training a new client & after he finished a set of squats I asked him in which muscles he felt the exercise.

After a long pause he announced: in my right calf.

Cue the facepalm. 

And long pause on my end. 

A much needed mind/muscle connection discussion ensued (highlights of which are in my vlog below).

Too busy for a vlog? Swinging by my neck of the net whilst crouching in your cubicle at work?

Here’s the condensed version:

Exercise is 100% like life.  You can muddle through with little focus and get MEH results. MENTAL FOCUS = GREATER SUCCESS.The more you *shut out* distractions & visualize muscles working during exercise the better youll succeed in working/contracting muscle groups.  The more you contract/work the muscles the more rapidly (according to those more “expert” than I) muscle definition will appear.Let tunes pump you up during workouts—but don’t 100% tune out from what youre doing OR let them distract you from proper form, tight core or tempo.Remember if you can zone out too much (if your body does the routine as if it’s second nature) you’ve hit an exercise rut.  Challenge the mind.  Challenge the body.

Got you 150 seconds to toss my way?

You can hear the tips I shared with my SquattingClient below.

Now you.

Do you make the effort to mentally focus on the muscles your working when exercising?

Are you like I am & ‘cant feel it where you should’ if you let 50cent or Lady GaGa sing too loudly in your ear?

Or are your workouts better & do you emerge STRONGER when you think about anything BUT the exercise youre doing?

**This was the tag line of my training studio. As you may recall we got married day it opened & continued to fight about have lively debates over exactly WHO was the mind and WHO was the muscle.

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