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Think back to your last lifting workout — were you 100 percent focused on the task at hand, or were you contemplating what to make for dinner, stewing about work or daydreaming about a vacation? It’s easy to let your mind wander while doing an activity you’ve done a thousand times before (more biceps curls — zzz …), but switching your brain to autopilot could be negatively impacting your results and may be making that elusive mind-muscle connection even harder to establish.
“Some fitness enthusiasts are skeptical about the mind-muscle connection and think it’s bro-science quackery,” explains kinesiologist Jessica Kasten, MS, NSCA-CSCS, CPT. “But it’s been used for years by bodybuilders who swear by its effectiveness, and new research backs up their claims.”
