Logan Steele
Mindful muscle control is an important aspect of physical training, enabling individuals to maximise their strength and efficiency. It involves the ability to contract specific muscles while relaxing others, allowing for greater force exertion and improved motor learning. This practice is particularly beneficial for athletes, leading to enhanced performance and a reduced risk of injury. By understanding the connection between the mind and body, individuals can develop mindful muscle control, resulting in increased muscle growth and improved overall fitness.
How to Control Your Muscles
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| What are pelvic floor muscles? | Layers of muscle and other tissues that stretch like a hammock from the tailbone to the pubic bone. |
| What do they support? | A woman's bladder, uterus, and bowel. |
| What passes through them? | Urethra, vagina, and rectum. |
| What do they help control? | Bladder and bowel. They may also help sexual function. |
| Why are they important? | To control urine flow and prevent urine leakage. |
| How to strengthen them? | Pelvic floor muscle training exercises, Kegel exercises, using vaginal cones, and eating healthy. |
| How to find the right muscles? | Insert a finger into the vagina/rectum and squeeze the muscles as if holding in urine. |
| How to train them? | Squeeze and hold each time before coughing, sneezing, or lifting something heavy. |
| How often to train? | 10 repetitions, 3-5 times a day (morning, afternoon, and night). |
| What to avoid? | Over-exercising, straining during bladder/bowel use, and constipation. |
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What You'll Learn
Muscle control as a means of health and strength
Muscle control is a technique used by strongmen and women to gain strength and improve health. Maxick (Max Sick) and Monte Saldo were pioneers of this method, which does not require weights and teaches the practitioner to take total conscious control over the major muscle groups of the body.
A muscle is made up of hundreds of thousands of muscle fibres, grouped together as "motor units". A motor unit is a group of muscle fibres controlled by a single nerve. Motor units vary in size, from small to large, with the smaller motor units containing more of the slow-twitch muscle fibres that are significantly more energy efficient and don't tire out as quickly. The larger motor units are primarily comprised of fast and superfast fibres but are rapidly fatigued. When you send a signal from your brain to engage the muscle, the strength of that neural drive will determine the percentage of motor units that will be used. But the order always remains the same: small to large. This is Henneman's Size Principle.
Isometrics can be highly effective for increasing neural drive, allowing for a much longer maximum contraction. Quasi isometrics, or extremely slow repetitions, are useful for teaching more precise control over the amount of force you wish to exert. This is about adding just the right number of motor units to create tiny alterations in force production, which can be referred to as "strength finesse".
Pelvic floor muscle training is another example of muscle control for health and strength. The pelvic floor muscles support the bladder, uterus, and bowel, and help control the bladder and bowel. Pelvic floor muscle training exercises are a series of exercises designed to strengthen these muscles. They can help both men and women who have problems with urine leakage or bowel control.
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The mind-muscle connection
When you improve your mind-muscle connection, you increase the number of muscle fibres being recruited when you perform a lift. You can touch the muscle and feel it as it contracts. By lightly pressing into the muscle or flexing and releasing it before you begin, you force blood into the surrounding area, making it easier to mentally isolate the muscle.
To improve your mind-muscle connection, you need to have the right mindset. Your mind needs to be right. This means you are mentally connected to your body and how it's working while you're performing activities. When you feel the muscles working properly, you're doing effective reps. Performing the reps slower helps you feel the muscle working and stretching from start to finish. Isolation movements are much more effective with slower reps, and you will know for sure that the muscles are working.
To summarise, the mind-muscle connection is about focusing on the muscle or muscle group that you want to work during an exercise. This conscious focus on the muscle improves your mind-muscle connection, which leads to better gains in the long run. By performing the reps slower and isolating the muscle, you can feel it working and ensure that you are recruiting more muscle fibres.
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Muscle control and posing in bodybuilding
Muscle control and posing are essential aspects of bodybuilding, both contributing to a competitor's success in their own right.
Muscle Control
Bodybuilders must learn to control their muscles to perform the mandatory poses required in competitions. The stomach vacuum pose, for instance, is a challenging manoeuvre unique to the Classic Physique division. It involves removing all air from the diaphragm and drawing in the abdominal wall to create a "hollow" stomach appearance. This pose showcases not only the musculature of the torso but also the bodybuilder's ability to control their midsection.
Posing
Posing is an art in bodybuilding, with specific poses designed to showcase different muscle groups and the overall physique. Some common poses include:
- Front double biceps: Bodybuilders stand with their feet shoulder-width apart, facing the judges. They then flex both arms, bringing their fists close to their shoulders while contracting their biceps, chest, and shoulders. This pose allows judges to assess the entire front musculature, including the X-frame, which is characterised by broad shoulders and sweeping quads forming an "X" shape.
- Back double biceps: This pose showcases the competitor's back size and symmetry, highlighting their lats, rhomboids, traps, biceps, hamstrings, and calves. The bodybuilder stands with their back to the judges, bringing their arms out to the sides to flex their biceps. By keeping their shoulder blades open and torso slightly back, they can maximise the width of their lats.
- Side chest: This pose allows judges to assess hamstring and quad development from a side angle while showcasing the competitor's chest and upper arms. The bodybuilder stands sideways with a staggered stance, one foot slightly in front of the other, and flexes their legs while contracting their biceps.
- The most muscular: In this pose, bodybuilders have the freedom to flex as much of their overall musculature as possible. Some may lean forward and flex their arms with fists facing the audience, while others stand upright and clasp their hands in front of their waists, creating different silhouettes.
Posing is not just for competitions, as it can also be a valuable tool for bodybuilders to improve muscle awareness, maturity, and definition. Practising posing can help bodybuilders identify which muscle groups are lagging and need more attention during training.
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Autogenic and reciprocal inhibition
Autogenic inhibition (AI) and reciprocal inhibition (RI) are advanced soft tissue techniques used in manual therapy to treat mechanical neck pain (MNP). They are also used to treat spasticity in hemiplegic children.
AI involves stretching the affected muscle and performing an isometric contraction with 50% of the patient's effort in the same muscle. The position is held for 10 seconds, with 5 seconds of rest after each repetition, repeated 5 times. This procedure helps to improve pain, muscle tone, circulation, stretching short muscle and fascia, strengthening weak muscles, and mobilizing joints.
RI also includes stretching of the affected muscle, but differs from AI in that it involves isometric contraction of the antagonist muscles with 50% of the patient's effort. The agonist muscle remains in a stretched position while the position is held for 10 seconds, with 5 seconds of rest after each repetition, repeated 5 times.
A randomized control trial compared the effects of AI and RI techniques with conventional therapy in patients with moderate intensity MNP. The results showed that the Autogenic Inhibition-MET technique was more beneficial than the Reciprocal Inhibition-MET technique in improving pain, range of motion, and functional disability in patients with sub-acute and chronic MNP.
Another study compared the effects of AI and RI techniques on spasticity in hemiplegic children. The results showed that the AI technique was more effective in decreasing spasticity, with significant improvements in muscle functional magnetic resonance imaging.
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Muscle control and strength training
Muscle control is an important part of physical training, especially for those who want to develop functional strength. Combining conventional exercise with muscle control can help you achieve a high degree of physical development, a symmetrical body, and agile, strong muscles.
Pelvic Floor Muscle Training
Pelvic floor muscle training is a series of exercises designed to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. These exercises are recommended for both men and women who experience problems with urine leakage or bowel control. Pelvic floor muscles support the bladder, uterus, and bowel and may also help sexual function.
- To identify the correct muscles, sit or lie down and relax your thigh, buttock, and stomach muscles. Squeeze the ring of muscle around your anus as if trying to stop passing wind, then relax. Try to avoid squeezing your buttock muscles.
- When using the toilet, try to stop the stream of urine mid-flow. You should feel a distinct 'squeeze and lift' of your pelvic floor muscles.
- Once you've identified the correct muscles, practice tightening and holding them for a count of 10, then relaxing for a count of 10. Aim for 10 repetitions, 3-5 times a day.
- After a few weeks, try doing a single pelvic floor contraction at times when you're likely to leak, such as when getting out of a chair.
- Avoid over-exercising, as this can cause muscle fatigue and increase urine leakage.
- If you're unsure if you're doing the exercises correctly, seek guidance from a continence physiotherapist or nurse advisor.
Other Muscle Control Techniques
In addition to pelvic floor muscle training, there are other techniques to improve muscle control:
- 'The Knack': Brace your pelvic floor muscles by squeezing and holding each time before coughing, sneezing, or lifting something heavy.
- Stretching and limbering: This can provide benefits for sports performance and overall muscle health.
- Weight training: Incorporating barbells, dumbbells, and cable exercises can help develop muscle control and strength.
Remember, muscle control is a process of exploration and experimentation. It's important to be patient and consistent in your practice to achieve the desired results.
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Frequently asked questions
Kegel exercises are a series of exercises designed to strengthen the muscles of the pelvic floor. They can help both men and women who experience urine leakage or have poor bowel control.
To do Kegel exercises, you need to relax and tighten the muscles that control urine flow. To find these muscles, try stopping the flow of your pee when you’re sitting on the toilet. You can also insert a finger into your vagina/rectum and squeeze the muscles around it.
You should do Kegel exercises 3 to 5 times a day. For each repetition, tighten the pelvic floor muscles and hold for a count of 10, then relax the muscles completely for a count of 10. Do 10 repetitions each time.
