Focus on muscles during strength training for more hypertrophy

 Strength athletes who focus on their muscles during their training increase the electrical activity in those muscles, do not increase their maximum strength or the number of reps they can do. What may increase with this mental technique is the size of their muscles.


Focus on muscles during strength training for more hypertrophy


Study

Brad Jon Schoenfeld, a researcher we don't need to introduce, published a study in the European Journal of Sport Science in which 30 male and untrained students participated as test subjects. Schoenfeld divided them into 2 groups.

During the 8 weeks that the experiment lasted, the students trained with weights 3 times a week in an identical manner. One group had to focus on the muscles during the workout, the other on the weights. Before and after the training period, Schoenfeld determined the strength of the subjects, their body composition and - using ultrasound scans - the size of some muscle groups.

Results
The subjects who had concentrated on their muscles during their workouts [Internal focus] had grown their biceps more than the subjects who had concentrated on the weight during their training [External focus].

Click on the table below for a larger version.


Focus on muscles during strength training for more hypertrophy


Focus on muscles during strength training for more hypertrophy

Focus did not affect the hypertrophy of two leg muscles whose growth the researchers also measured, the rectus femoris and the vastus lateralis.

The same was the case with muscle strength. Focus had no effect.

Conclusion
"The findings lend support to the use of a mind-muscle connection to enhance muscle hypertrophy", concludes Schoenfeld.

Source:
Eur J Sport Sci. 2018 Jun;18(5):705-12.

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