How important is concentration?

[ashe555]

Just how important is it to concentrate on the particular working muscle while working out? Does it really have a lot of impact?

 

[corsaking]

For me concentration is necessary to work out . If youre doing something like a barbell curl and are at the same time able to take in whats happening on the large plasma tv in the gym , then your not giving it 100percent.
I also find someone trying to chat to you whilest doing an exercise also off putting, especially if the chat is totally irrelevant to what you are doing.
so yes concentration is important to give 100 per cent effort.

 

[lonewolf0420]

Not to mention lack of concentration could lead to greater chance for injury.

 

[Chubbinmuffin]

Poor concentration leads to poor form.

 

[Type O Hero]

When you're doing any exercise you want to be establishing "muscle feel." Or whatever you want to call it. Whatever muscles you're supposed to be working, you want to feel them working! If you can't establish that feel, you're most likely using too much weight and should try lessening it. If you're aim is to improve your physique, it's all about technique and establishing muscle feel vs. how much sheer weight you're lifting. I think a lot of people start having ego trips and are more concerned about how much they're lifting as if anyone else other than them really cares.

If you're into bodybuilding, it's all about training the muscles. When you're weight training, you're using weights to train your muscles! When you're lifting, try thinking about what your muscles are doing rather than what the weight is doing. For instance, if I'm doing barbell curls, I'm focusing on my biceps working through a full range of motion, a wide arc and getting a good squeeze at the top, rather than focusing on the bar itself. Use the weights as a means to an end rather than the actual goal (unless you're into weight lifting, where maximum weight is the goal).

It also helps to flex the muscles you're working after your sets. This not only helps bring more blood into that area which helps you keep intensity high and helps you better establish muscle feel (when you're muscles are big and full it's easier to keep them tight and focus on them when you're lifting), but it helps you better learn your body. When you're one with your body you can better manipulate it during exercise to get as much out of that lift as possible. Everyone is mostly the same but there are enough differences in our physiques that we have to use some trail and error to tweak movements and techniques to suit ourselves and get as much of an advantage as possible.

So yeah, concentration, technique and establishing feel is VERY important!

 

[WarMachine000]

I'm sure most of us have read (in Arnold's "Complete Cyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding") about the importance of concentration, and I agree. Between sets, I think about the next set, and sometimes do a couple of "dry runs" empty handed to practice form and get a good mental picture. When I'm lifting, I try to focus on every tear in the muscle fiber(s).

 

[Andy G]

Yes, the mind/muscle connection, crucial. I can guarantee you when I set a p.r. in the gym, it's not because I was thinking about anything else but that bar getting to where it needs to go. Elite athletes can testify to their success by reaching that "heightened state of awareness." Tiger Woods described it where he doesn't really remember doing it, but he's practiced it so many times it becomes second nature. So when the focus is there and we get our form down, we can detach ourselves from the focus of form and more on the task of getting it done.

 

[corsaking]

Yes, the mind/muscle connection, crucial. I can guarantee you when I set a p.r. in the gym, it's not because I was thinking about anything else but that bar getting to where it needs to go. Elite athletes can testify to their success by reaching that "heightened state of awareness." Tiger Woods described it where he doesn't really remember doing it, but he's practiced it so many times it becomes second nature. So when the focus is there and we get our form down, we can detach ourselves from the focus of form and more on the task of getting it done.

Yes he really did practice it MANY times -no wonder it became second nature

sorry off topic but i couldnt resist getting that in

 

[WarMachine000]

:usa:
See also: visualization.

 

[Type O Hero]

Yes, the mind/muscle connection, crucial. I can guarantee you when I set a p.r. in the gym, it's not because I was thinking about anything else but that bar getting to where it needs to go. Elite athletes can testify to their success by reaching that "heightened state of awareness." Tiger Woods described it where he doesn't really remember doing it, but he's practiced it so many times it becomes second nature. So when the focus is there and we get our form down, we can detach ourselves from the focus of form and more on the task of getting it done.

I agree completely. You can have anything become second nature if you devote yourself to it. I play the guitar and I can have a conversation while playing a lot of stuff because it's just muscle memory to me; just patterns repeated but you know them so well that you don't think about it. And you can even get "in the zone" with just about anything. You know those feelings when you're nailing everything just right, like in sports and athletics or anything really. Sometimes when I'm in the zone with music I don't even really think about what I'm physically doing; it's more like hearing the music in my head and making it happen with my guitar. But it's that same "in the zone" feeling you get with anything else. Lifting included.

:439:

 

[BigRed86]

I notice in the gym when i am distracted by somebody walking up to say something to me and i am not fully concentrating on my weight i can def feel almost weaker, sounds weird but thats how it works for me so i tell people to not even bother me in the gym if they see me.