Importance of mind-muscle connection during progressive resistance training

Abstract

Resistance-trained individuals can increase triceps brachii or pectarilis major muscle activity during the bench press when focusing on using the specific muscle at intensities up to 60 % of 1RM. A threshold between 60 and 80 % appeared to exist.

Effects of Attentional Focus and Dual-tasking on Conventional Deadlift Performance in Experienced Lifters

“…In summary, the results of the present work indicate that the effects of attentional focus diminish when conventional deadlifts are performed at loading intensities that are close to an individual's one repetition maximum, which is consistent with previous literature attentional focus effects on muscle activation (Calatayud et al, 2016;Snyder & Fry, 2012). This was shown by the lack of significant differences between attentional foci for lift duration, peak barbell velocity and the kinetic measures (i.e.…”

“…COP = centre of pressure COG = cognitive the results of the present work show no significant differences between an EF and an IF for lift duration (p > 0.05) and peak barbell velocity in the inferior-superior direction (p > 0.05). These findings suggest that attentional focus effects diminish at higher loading intensities, which is congruent with previous studies (Calatayud et al 2016;Snyder & Fry, 2012) that investigated the effects of IF instructions on muscle activity during multi-joint resistance exercises. Snyder & Fry (2012) and Calatayud et al (2016)'s findings both indicate a threshold between 60 to 80% of 1RM exists where adopting an IF no longer results in greater muscle activation relative to neutral instructions.…”

“…These findings suggest that attentional focus effects diminish at higher loading intensities, which is congruent with previous studies (Calatayud et al 2016;Snyder & Fry, 2012) that investigated the effects of IF instructions on muscle activity during multi-joint resistance exercises. Snyder & Fry (2012) and Calatayud et al (2016)'s findings both indicate a threshold between 60 to 80% of 1RM exists where adopting an IF no longer results in greater muscle activation relative to neutral instructions. However, as indicated by other attentional focus studies pertaining to force production tasks, greater muscle activation does not directly result in greater force production (Marchant, Greig, & Scott, 2009;Wulf, Zachry, Granados, & Dufek, 2007).…”

“…Consequently, these attentional focus studies used loading intensities that were much lower than what is typically used in competition (e.g. Marchant et al (2011) used 75% of one repetition maximum to assess muscular endurance, Calatayud et al (2016) used between 20-80% of one repetition maximum and Snyder & Fry (2012) used 20-80% of one repetition maximum to assess changes in muscle activation).…”

Verbal instruction does not change myoelectric activity during seated row exercise in trained and untrained men

“…On this kind of training, the verbal instruction (VI), composed by small phrases, helps to direct the practitioner to contract a specific muscle or muscle group 4 , as an attempt to emphasize its participation (e.g., focus on the contract the back muscles instead of the arms muscles). Recent studies have highlighted the importance of VI as a way to increase the myoelectric activity (EMG) 1,4,5 . Snyder and Leech 4 showed that VI focusing on the back musculature during the lat pulldown exercise, made the participants increase the latissimus dorsi activity in 17.6%.…”