Mind-Muscle Connection

Good afternoon all you happy people!

Yesterday I visited Martina Johansson's blog for the first time, "Next Level Biohacking". It was very inspiring. I will in the future make it a habit to visit this reputable and useful blog. Good job, Martina!


Today I had a steak for breakfast. I find that I feel most excellent when eating a piece of meat as the morning meal. Besides, it keeps me full for a long time. I enjoyed this meal about 08:30 and then went on a brisk walk, per usual.

A couple of hours later, I managed to surprise myself by taking a trip to the gym. Friskis & Svettis. I see the greatest success when I find that I have some resistance to something, by simply disconnecting the brain and just starting to do preparatory things and then the brain, simply, has to keep up to the best of its ability. It usually goes pretty well, no cause for concern. I switch on this overrated lump of fat when I start exercising.

During the workout, I apply a slow tempo, slow controlled concentric phase, and a third of that speed in the eccentric phase, more or less. This applies, not quite surprisingly, to a slightly lesser extent when I do HIIT training.

Mind-Muscle Connection is a key component for optimal results, in my opinion. It helps with the form and activation of the specific muscle you are training. Injury prevention and better active stretch of the individual muscles as well as neuromuscular awareness is another big advantage, especially for those of us who have reached a slightly more advanced age.
      When I trained Crossfit and did, almost exclusively, "kipping" Pull Ups, for example, I , after a while, encountered difficulties in performing strict ones. The whole TUT (Time Under Tension) concept was disconnected, mostly. When my Crossfit adventure was finally over (I stopped training Crossfit a few months after my first and only competition, Fit As Fuck, in Denmark), I turned in the opposite direction, in some respects any way, and started doing Convict Conditioning and then "Body By Science" by Dough McGuff. In these disciplines, body control and TUT are significantly more prevalent, in very different ways in the respective cases.

As with everything here in life, I am a concoction of the techniques, disciplines and theories that have worked for me, over the years. Crossfit, Starting Strength, Convict, Calisthenics, and so on.

Then, then its time to present today's workout, in all its simplicity:

Military Press (4x55kg, 4x55kg, 6x50kg)

Low Bar Back Squat (3x100kg, 3x110kg, 5x100kg)

Barbell Biceps Curl (4x50kg, 3x50kg, 5x45kg)

Skull Crushers (3x40kg, 3x45kg, 6x40kg & 6x40kg)

In all the exercises I worked my way up to these Work Sets. 3-4 minutes rest between Work Sets, so the WO took some time. The goal is to train heavily this week, ie 3-5 reps, rather 3 than 5. I do  two heavy weeks in a row with the hope of Progressive Overload. Week three is easily, easily. And I mean EASY. So no fewer than 15 reps / exercise, 3-5 sets. Yep, the lactic acid reeks havoc on your strength aspirations but I have felt a good feedback loop for recovery between sets in the heavier weeks after throwing in some high volume work. In addition, I get faster recovery between the WO's. We'll see where it all ends. One thing I can say anyway; it's no much fun! Damn that burn is mentally taxing. I have strong aversions to that since Crossfit time. Maybe I've also become a little comfortable, as the years have gone by.
         Week four I usually do a deload week.

That was all for this Wednesday:

Make it a lifestyle,
Not a duty

May the Fors be with you!