My mistake with "Heavy Lifting"...

If you are using good form then you are focusing on the correct muscles for any given exercise so I am not really understanding what you mean.

I'm a bit confused about this as well. I appreciate your post, and I think it's something I need to be mindful of too, but doesn't "good form" indicate that you're using the proper muscles for the lifts? How could you be doing something with good form but not using the right muscles? I'm a little confused about that.

I have an idea of what you mean though... there are a few lifts I do that I don't feel in the right places... for example, chest exercises I NEVER feel in my chest, but normally in my biceps/triceps. I've triple checked my form and I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything right, but it doesn't FEEL right. I have no idea where to go from here. Wish I could afford a personal trainer even for a couple of sessions. Maybe it would help me like it helped you!

Anyway, congrats on your success and thanks for sharing!

Maybe this is why! I don't feel sore at all the next day, despite feeling so exausted during and directly after the workout! I feel like I push myself so hard, I practice good form, and thought I was doing everything right... but things like the squats I don't even feel my legs burn even a little I'm going to focus on each muscle group now and see if it makes a difference I'm so glad I read this before I spent more time lifting... I've only been doing it a few weeks now so this might help a lot

You might also try sets of 15 using 2/3rds of your 5RM. So if you're doing 5 reps with 100 lbs, instead do 15 reps with 65 lbs. (Or if you can do 14 or 16, but it should get you in the ballpark)

Or, 20 reps with 60% of your 5RM.

Those will get you the burn you're looking for, and you should feel it the next day. :happy: But not everyone gets DOMS... I feel it later but it's not unpleasant, and I'm still making gains.

Also there's no reason you have to do only one rep count every workout, you can switch rep ranges and do 15's one day and 5's the next time, etc. (But remember to keep trying to progress your equivalent weight every time.)

Maybe this is why! I don't feel sore at all the next day, despite feeling so exausted during and directly after the workout! I feel like I push myself so hard, I practice good form, and thought I was doing everything right... but things like the squats I don't even feel my legs burn even a little I'm going to focus on each muscle group now and see if it makes a difference I'm so glad I read this before I spent more time lifting... I've only been doing it a few weeks now so this might help a lot

In order to focus on the muscle groups for a squat, you need to focus on your chest, abs, upper back, lower back, glutes, hamstrings, quads, hips, and calves. In other words, your entire body. That's called "lifting with proper form." The squat is a full body lift, not an isolation lift. What the OP is talking about really only applies to isolation exercises, like the biceps curl, or leg extension, not to a full body lift like the squat or bench press, or deadlift.

This is true. Its all about connecting your mind with the muscle you want to work. Check out the guys in prison. They removed all the weightlifting equipment but they are still yoked!

This is so true, even though they still have a lot of good equipment! If you went to prison and came out fat I'll assume you were a prison *****.

Maybe this is why! I don't feel sore at all the next day, despite feeling so exausted during and directly after the workout! I feel like I push myself so hard, I practice good form, and thought I was doing everything right... but things like the squats I don't even feel my legs burn even a little I'm going to focus on each muscle group now and see if it makes a difference I'm so glad I read this before I spent more time lifting... I've only been doing it a few weeks now so this might help a lot

In order to focus on the muscle groups for a squat, you need to focus on your chest, abs, upper back, lower back, glutes, hamstrings, quads, hips, and calves. In other words, your entire body. That's called "lifting with proper form." The squat is a full body lift, not an isolation lift. What the OP is talking about really only applies to isolation exercises, like the biceps curl, or leg extension, not to a full body lift like the squat or bench press, or deadlift.

oh... ok I only do squats, deadlifts, bench press, overhead press, and rows...

Maybe this is why! I don't feel sore at all the next day, despite feeling so exausted during and directly after the workout! I feel like I push myself so hard, I practice good form, and thought I was doing everything right... but things like the squats I don't even feel my legs burn even a little I'm going to focus on each muscle group now and see if it makes a difference I'm so glad I read this before I spent more time lifting... I've only been doing it a few weeks now so this might help a lot

In order to focus on the muscle groups for a squat, you need to focus on your chest, abs, upper back, lower back, glutes, hamstrings, quads, hips, and calves. In other words, your entire body. That's called "lifting with proper form." The squat is a full body lift, not an isolation lift. What the OP is talking about really only applies to isolation exercises, like the biceps curl, or leg extension, not to a full body lift like the squat or bench press, or deadlift.

I agree with this as well as all of the discussion regarding how DOMS is not an indicator of how effective your workout is.

IMO, you should always be aware of what your muscles are doing when you are lifting, but the focus changes based on experience. When you are a beginner, your focus should be on form and learning to do the compound lifts properly to avoid injury. When you reach an intermediate/advanced (dependent on the individual) is where I can see this mind/muscle connection coming into play....this is often times where you will find programs that include more of the "accessory" work conducive to bodybuilding. Probably not a coincidence.

Either way OP, I'm glad that you are finally seeing the results that you have wanted.....I don't think 3 years was a waste and glad you found a trainer that you like

So by that logic, couldn't you just concentrate on your muscles and get them to grow?

Actually, a limited study proved just this:
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/sportspsychology/a/thinkstrong.htm

TBH I would think it's very common to mentally rehearse one's lifts. I do that all the time and also do that with diving, video games, and pretty much any similar skill.:happy:

Also, not to split hairs (but here's the part where I split hairs) it didn't prove that muscles could grow, it proved that neural adaptation could occur, which isn't really surprising. It's also known that strength training only one limb will result in strength improvements on the opposing limb.

Appreciated this. You hear the stronglifts guy go on about 'heavier means more muscle' with no reference crap all the time and well, I guess that's not necessarily true in that situation. I was just curious if you could end up with the same results with a slightly lighter weight given a different circumstance. Not talking about comparing say p90x to olympic lifting or anything. Heffing around large weights != larger muscles...if only half the people who jerk the weights around with their half reps would realize this.

Just to clear up since there's argument:

I kind of get it...not so much for compound lifts but watching guys do curls at the gym and throwing something compared to not. Even if that's an exaggerated case. If you wanted to you can stay in the correct movement flexing and use momentum to get you past longer distances (IE you concentrate on a particular section allot but the rest 'cheats'). Like throwing a ball, initial acceleration is greatest. I think the OP is trying to say they're concentrating on not necessarily slowing the movement but making the distance and time graph different. IE the fastest acceleration gets slower and the slow parts of the acceleration get faster. Distance over time may remain the same. You're not concentrating on the strong muscles, you're concentrating on the weaker ones, which make sense since she mentioned concentrating on flexing (which you'd notice more at those points) and didn't say anything about slowing things down.

If you are using good form then you are focusing on the correct muscles for any given exercise so I am not really understanding what you mean.

There is a difference between moving weight and working muscles. Doing both well is the sign of an advanced lifter.

Bump. I like this.

In the absence of knowing if your rep range has changed then:

1) thinking about the muscles being worked slowed down the movement
2) slowing down the movement increased time under tension
3) increasing time under tension moved you more from myofibrillar hypertrophy to sacroplasmic hypertrophy
4) moving to sacroplasmic hypertrophy triggered more noticeable physique changes (power / strength athlete .v. body builder)

You could of course just work with good form and sufficient load in the appropriate rep range for your desired goals without any of this mind - body business...

THIS is the first thing here I understand and that makes sense to me.

If you are using good form then you are focusing on the correct muscles for any given exercise so I am not really understanding what you mean.

I'm a bit confused about this as well. I appreciate your post, and I think it's something I need to be mindful of too, but doesn't "good form" indicate that you're using the proper muscles for the lifts? How could you be doing something with good form but not using the right muscles? I'm a little confused about that.

I have an idea of what you mean though... there are a few lifts I do that I don't feel in the right places... for example, chest exercises I NEVER feel in my chest, but normally in my biceps/triceps. I've triple checked my form and I'm pretty sure I'm doing everything right, but it doesn't FEEL right. I have no idea where to go from here. Wish I could afford a personal trainer even for a couple of sessions. Maybe it would help me like it helped you!

Anyway, congrats on your success and thanks for sharing!

If you feel a chest exercise in your biceps then you're not doing it right tbh. I was initially surprised that the op was misunderstood by so many but I suppose most people have other interests outside of training (which is probably better for them anyways) and don't think about this sort of thing often.

Good form is generally a synonym for lifting safely (ie not ripping up your rotator cuff on the bench) and moving the most weight possible (in powerlifting). The best form on bench involving a tight core, leg drive, arm angle etc is not necessarily the best form to emphasize the chest for everyone. The real confusion arises because it is the right way to do it for some people.

A lot of people seem to think this is solely down to changing the pace of a lift but this doesn't have to be the case, changing from bb to db bench can be enough to create a response from the pectorals that would never have happened on the bb bench as an example.

It's called the mind-muscle connection. Learn it. Live it. Love it.

Thanks for the post - such a good reminder!!!! Gotta really put that effort and vision into it

nope. I have to say that i have not thought of this, but I will definitely make that change from here on out!! Thanks for the heads up! and congrats on your progress!