While your diet, rest & recovery time, workout consistency all contribute to the kind of physique you end up with, when in the gym, there’s one little secret ingredient that ensures that you make the most of your workout. Assuming that all other aspects of your life are in place, it is this ingredient that can accelerate your gains and catapult you from ‘good’ to ‘great’ (the most successful people use this very technique).

Today, I spill the beans on it and teach you how to use it to maximum advantage.

But first, a bit of background.

When you go to a gym, you find quite a wide variety of people there.

Type 1: There are beginners who are just starting out and are curiously exploring this fascinating world. They may or may not stick around after a few days.

Type 2: These people form the bulk of gym goers. They have a decent workout experience under their belt, can lift decent amount of weight and their body has somewhat started showing the results of all the work they have put in and are now trying to figure out how to take it to the next level.

Type 3: For this bunch, life is hard because they are yet to bear the real fruits of the workout they have been doing for months, if not weeks now. 

Type 4: Finally, there are people for whom gym is their second home, who appear to be born and raised here, and who take their workout as seriously as the Pope takes his prayers. Their bodies(which could range from athletic to bulked up depending on their preference) and their gym ethics are a testament to their dedication and focus.

This secret ingredient is what the Type 4 people described above know and practice, and this is the secret that I will give you today so that whether you are a Type 1, 2 or 3, you can include this to your workout, and be on your way to Type 4 (equally important will be your diet, rest time and consistency, but more on that later, as we focus on what you do inside the gym here).

The best part is that this ingredient can be used outside the gym in other forms of training, as well as in every aspect of your life to take it to the next level.

So what are we talking about here?

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the star of the show: ‘Mind-muscle connection’.

Mind-muscle connection is a technique where you clear your head of any distractions, focus all your attention to the muscle group you are working on, while ‘visualizing’ the impact of the exercise in your mind as you go through the movements.

Working out is like meditation, and mind-muscle connection is the technique you are going to use to meditate your way to glory. But how?

Let me explain with an example. Read through the next paragraph carefully and start using this technique regularly till it becomes a habit and an integral part of your workout. Visualization is the key here.

Let’s say its biceps day today and you are about to do Biceps Curl. Now, once you pick that weight up, everything around you should cease to exist. Forget your gym buddy, forget the loud music, forget the sweaty guy next to you who is grunting like hell, or the cute girl on that treadmill. It’s just you and the weight, and it’s time to meditate. You got to get into the zone. Feel as if the world doesn’t exist anymore (like I do as I am writing this article; have no clue what’s happening around me). It’s just you and that weight you are holding and you two are going to kick some ass.

Choose a weight that challenges you and is good for just about 4-8 reps. Before you lift the weight, close your eyes for an instance, and visualize how you want your biceps to look like. Imagine how you want to look once you have developed your dream physique. Now as you start lifting that weight up to curl your bicep, concentrate on how the biceps is bulging and contracting as you do it. Your brain should only be busy imagining how your ideal biceps are supposed to look and it will automatically ensure that you maintain the correct form.

There is no mumbo jumbo here. As you establish the connection between your mind and muscle, your brain gets busy transmitting how it wants the muscle to develop and the muscle responds accordingly.

Remember how much you are lifting doesn’t matter. You got to use mind-muscle connection whether you lift 5 pounds or 500. Because, this technique will ensure that you get from 5 to 500 in an incredibly short amount of time. 

Pro Tip: Breathing plays an important role in the effectiveness of an exercise. The correct way to breathe during an exercise is to exhale (breathe out) whenever you are lifting a weight or applying force, and inhale (breathe in) during the retreating/relaxing movement. For instance, while doing biceps curls, exhale as you curl/bring the weight up (because you are exerting force), and inhale while you uncurl/bring the weight down. Likewise, while doing pull ups, exhale on the way up(as that’s when you apply force), and inhale as you come back down. Keep this in mind next time you work out.

 

Points to remember while working out:

Whatever’s worth doing, is worth doing well.

“No half assing. Not in the gym, not in your life either. No fooling around. You got to come out of that set as if you just won a battle, cos you did.”

Don’t forget to enjoy it and have a good laugh about it though.