With the world in quarantine for the past few years, I took it upon myself to find new and interesting ways to work out. Before the pandemic, I was going to the gym to lift weights every few days and just did a handful of exercises I’d learned throughout years of gym classes, and going to the gym sporadically in high school and college with friends. I always tried my best and went to lift heavy, but once I started working out with a friend who knew a little more about lifting (fellow Urban Martial Artist, David!), I became aware of form and how important it is. I began to feel muscles I didn’t even know I had! I felt like a white belt in lifting, and I remember one of the last times we lifted together before the shutdown, David said I had graduated to an orange belt in lifting :).
With all gyms closing down, I didn’t want to start losing too much progress while being at home all the time. I searched YouTube videos for good at home workouts with minimal equipment, and I found a great channel that explained how to use a simple bed sheet for a full body workout. You basically tied a knot in the middle of the bedsheet, put it over a door frame, and then closed the door, so you had two long “ropes” that you could hang onto and use your body weight for a variety of exercises. He stressed moving slow in the motions, and squeezing the muscles you’re targeting as you’re doing the full rep. This was a game changer for me; I didn’t realize that I had been cheating a handful of exercises by relying on momentum! It was a total lightbulb moment, and I’d say at this point I felt like a green belt in lifting. Not quite a novice anymore, but I still felt like I needed to learn more.
I was really pleased with my progress in this body weight workout I was doing, but I definitely missed using some of the machines/equipment at the gym. Fast forward to when gyms started opening up again, albeit still with masks, I wanted to start lifting again in a gym setting to try and learn more. I had been following a handful of fitness people on Instagram, and took a liking to one in particular who is not only a personal trainer and nutrition specialist, but who also has a body type I strive for. I bought one of her workout plans, and just after reading it, many, MANY, more light bulbs were going off in my brain! Once I started trying it, I’ve been so happy with the results. I’ve never felt as strong as I do now, and there’s a visible difference in my muscles that I never had before. This is all because she stressed the same thing I had been attempting before: mind-muscle connection.
With this technique, you are really focusing in on only moving and contracting the muscle you’re working. She gives and demonstrates certain cues to help with each motion, such as depressing and retracting your shoulders, squeezing specific muscle groups, hip-loading, shining armpits forward, etc. They sound weird out of context, but within each exercise as I focus on those little details it makes each movement so much more effective. It’s the old saying of, work smarter not harder!
I found that I was able to get a lot of definition this way, and didn’t even have to lift heavy yet. Using the mind-muscle connection, I’m able to lift easier and increase weight a lot safer than before. I began taking one of my good friends through this training as well, and she has also made very good progress and often will comment that she feels a lot better doing the exercises with me than when she was working out in the past with someone who didn’t quite explain or understand the details.
Next time you workout, try focusing on this mind-muscle connection. Only contract and squeeze the muscle you’re targeting in the exercise, and try to eliminate any other movements your body does to try and help lift with. My friend has started to call me coach Ana at the gym, and I like to think that is my brown belt lifting title :).
