What Is the Mind-Muscle Connection (And Why It Changes Everything About How You Train)

 

Hey hey beautiful human!

There is nothing more frustrating than doing the workout, checking off every set, and still wondering if the right muscles even got the message. You feel tired, you know you worked hard, but your glutes are quiet after glute day, your arms take over on back day, and suddenly the issue is not whether you are consistent. It is whether the effort you are putting in is actually going where you think it is.

What most women do in that moment is assume they need to do more. More weight, more exercises, more intensity. But the missing piece is usually not more effort. It is where that effort is actually going.

Not sure how to tell the difference between a workout that simply made you tired and a workout that actually trained the muscle you wanted to build? In this episode of Embrace Your Real, I’m breaking down what the mind-muscle connection is, why it changes the way your body responds to training, and the simple cues you can use in your next workout to finally feel the muscles you are trying to build.

What’s Discussed:

  • Why moving the weight does not always mean you are training the muscle you think you are

  • How your body finds the easiest way through a movement and lets stronger muscles take over

  • Why glute exercises can turn into quad or lower-back work without you realizing it

  • Why going heavier can sometimes make the connection worse, not better

  • How slowing down each rep helps you keep tension where it belongs

  • Why visualization, touch, and simple cues can help your brain find the target muscle

If you loved this episode, you'll also love: 7 Reasons You’ve Stopped Seeing Results After Years of Training  because it builds on this exact problem and helps you understand what else might be keeping your progress stuck even when you are doing the work. 

Ready to have every 30-minute session pre-planned, pre-programmed, and built around exactly this structure? Head to movementwithjulie.com and get started inside the Movement With Julie app. 

If you want more from me, be sure to check out… 

Website: www.juliealedbetter.com

Transcript

(0:00) Hey there, beautiful human. You're listening to Embrace Your Real with me, Julie Ledbetter, (0:05) a podcast where I empower you to just be you. With each episode, I give you a dose of real talk (0:11) and actionable advice for building your confidence, honoring your body, and unconditionally loving your (0:17) authentic self.

Stay tuned if you're ready to Embrace Your Real. Let's get it. Let's go.

(0:28) Hello and welcome back to another episode on the Embrace Your Real podcast. I'm really glad that (0:33) you're here today because this episode is going to completely change the way that you show up to (0:37) your next workout. Let me know if this sounds like you.

You're showing up, you're putting in the reps, (0:41) you're following the plan, and yet something just feels a little bit off. The weights move, (0:44) the sets get done, but you're not entirely sure if you're feeling the right muscles working. Like (0:48) you're finishing a glute workout and your legs are tired, but your glutes feel almost nothing.

(0:52) You do a set of maybe bent over rows and your arms are burning, but your back isn't feeling it. (0:57) You're doing the work, but the work is not really landing where it's supposed to. (1:00) There is a connection problem, and it has a name, and I want to talk about it because this is so, (1:07) so important.

We are talking about the mind-muscle connection, and hopefully by the end of this (1:12) episode, it's going to solve the problems that you're having. I want you to leave this episode (1:16) with how to really know what the mind-muscle connection is and what is happening in your (1:22) body when you use it, why so many women are missing it, and the specific reasons why, (1:27) and also like a full toolkit of the practical strategies that you can bring into your very (1:32) next workout session. We're just going to dive right into it because there's a ton of information (1:36) in today's episode, so be sure to bookmark this because you will likely want to come back to this, (1:42) especially maybe even during your workout so that you can take these tips and tools (1:46) while you're working out and practice them right away.

So every time you perform a movement, (1:51) your brain is going to send this electrical signal through your nervous system to the muscles (1:55) that you're trying to work, and that signal tells the muscle to contract. The clearer and more (2:00) intentional that signal is, the more muscle fibers get recruited and the more effectively that muscle (2:05) does its job. The mind-muscle connection is your ability to intentionally focus on the specific (2:11) muscle during an exercise and actually feel it during the work from start to finish, (2:15) instead of just going through the motion and hoping that it gets to the right area.

(2:20) A lot of people think that if they're moving the weight from point A to point B, (2:23) they're automatically training the muscle that they're targeting, but your body is actually (2:27) really smart. It finds the easiest way to complete a movement, which usually means (2:31) other muscles jump in to take over. That's why someone can be doing a glute exercise (2:36) and feel everything in their lower back or a shoulder workout and feel it in their neck and (2:40) traps.

When you have a strong mind to muscle connection, you're not just moving weight, (2:45) you're actively thinking about the muscle shortening as you lift and the lengthening (2:49) as you lower, you're paying attention to where tension is actually happening in your body (2:54) and you're adjusting your form, your tempo, your positioning in real time (2:58) to keep that tension exactly where you want it. It also means you're slowing things down (3:03) enough to stay in control. You're not rushing through the reps or lying on momentum or trying (3:09) to lift as heavy as possible at the expense of feeling the muscle.

You're prioritizing (3:14) quality over quantity because you understand that how the rep feels matters more than just (3:20) completing it. And that is what turns a workout from just burning calories to actually building (3:26) muscle because the muscle that is under the most tension is the muscle that is going to adapt and (3:31) grow. And the more you practice this, the easier it becomes.

At first, it might feel (3:35) hard to tell if you're actually doing it right, but over time, you're going to start to (3:39) recognize the difference between just moving and actually training. When the connection is (3:43) strong, you feel the muscle loading at the bottom of the rep and contracting at the top. (3:48) You feel it doing the work.

When the connection is weak, your body is going to take the path of (3:53) least resistance. Other muscles are going to compensate the dominant movers take over (3:57) and the muscle you were supposed to be training ends up doing far less than it should. (4:02) So let's go a little bit deeper into why does this even matter.

It's very easy to think of (4:07) this mind muscle connection as something that is optional or something that just makes your (4:12) workouts feel a little better if you happen to notice it. But in reality, this is one of the (4:16) biggest factors in whether your workouts are actually creating a change in your body. (4:21) Let me kind of explain what's happening behind the scenes.

So every time you perform a rep, (4:25) your body is wired to be efficient. It is always going to look for the easiest and (4:30) fastest way to move the weight from point A to point B. Your body is not thinking about (4:34) your goals or the muscle that you're trying to target. It is simply trying to complete (4:38) the movement in the most efficient way possible.

So if you're doing a glute exercise, (4:43) your body is not automatically prioritizing your glutes. It's going to recruit whatever (4:47) muscles are strongest, most dominant, and most ready to take over in that moment. (4:51) For a lot of women, this looks like the quads taking over during lower bodywork.

(4:56) The lower back jumping in during those hinging movements or the arms doing most of the work (5:01) during back exercises. The weight is still moving. The reps are still getting completed.

(5:06) From the outside, everything looks like it's working, but the muscles that you're (5:10) actually trying to train are not getting the stimulus that it needs to grow. (5:14) And this is where so much frustration comes in because you're showing up consistently, (5:18) you're following the plan, you're doing exactly what you are supposed to be doing. (5:21) And yet you're not seeing the results match the effort that you're putting in.

(5:25) It can start to feel confusing and sometimes even discouraging because it feels like you're (5:29) doing everything right. But the missing piece is not effort. It is not your discipline.

(5:34) It's where the work actually is going. And that's why two women can do the exact same (5:39) workout and get completely different results. Yeah, that's right.

Two women can follow the (5:43) same program, use the same weights, complete the same number of reps, and yet walk away (5:48) with completely different outcomes over time. One of them is intentionally connected to the (5:52) muscle that she is training. She's feeling it lengthened.

She's contracting through every rep. (5:57) She's adjusting when something feels off. She's making sure that the work is landing (6:01) where it's supposed to be, but the other one, they're just completing the movement.

(6:05) Her body is just relying on momentum, compensation. The reps are getting done, (6:09) but the targeted muscle is not fully engaged and other muscles are stepping in to do that job (6:15) instead. Over time, those small differences in how each rep is performed add up in a big way.

(6:21) The first woman is going to build strength in the muscles that she's actually trying to develop. (6:25) She sees change in how her body looks and performs, and she feels confident that her (6:30) workouts are actually working, whereas the second woman might still feel tired after (6:37) her workout. She's not seeing the same level of change.

She might feel stuck (6:40) or like she's spinning her wheels, even though she's putting in just as much effort. (6:45) The difference really does come down to that connection, and when you start to build a (6:49) strong mind-to-muscle connection, your workouts shift in a really noticeable way. You start (6:54) to feel the muscle working through the entire range of motion instead of just moving through (6:58) the weight and hoping that it's doing what it's supposed to.

Lighter weights begin to (7:03) feel more challenging because you're actually keeping tension on the muscle instead of letting (7:07) other muscles take over relying on momentum. You become more aware when something feels off, (7:13) and instead of pushing through it, you're able to adjust it in the moment and bring that focus (7:17) back to the right place. Over time, this is what is going to lead to better results.

You're (7:22) not just completing workouts, you're making each rep more effective. You're giving the muscles (7:26) you are trying to build the exact stimulus that they need to grow instead of spreading that effort (7:31) across whatever muscles happen to take over in that moment, and that's when things start to (7:36) click because it's no longer about doing more pushing harder. It's about making sure that the (7:41) work that you're already doing is actually landing where it's supposed to be.

All of this (7:46) to say, most women do not need to work out more. They do not need to do more exercises or more (7:52) volume or more intensity, and I'm talking about the woman who is already consistent in her workouts, (7:58) obviously, but what they need to do is to get more out of the reps that they're already doing, (8:03) and this is exactly what the mind-muscle connection allows you to do. It takes the (8:07) time and the effort that you're already investing in your workouts, and it just makes it more (8:12) effective.

So instead of leaving your workouts wondering if they really counted, you can finish (8:17) knowing that you actually trained the muscles that you intended to train, and this is where (8:21) confidence starts to build because you're no longer guessing you can actually feel it. (8:26) In fact, here's something interesting. Studies on resistance training have shown (8:30) that when participants were instructed to focus the target muscle during an exercise, (8:36) the activation in that muscle measurably increased compared to when they just focused (8:41) on completing the movement.

The intent really changed the outcome. Same exercise, same weight, (8:46) different result purely based on where their brain was pointed, and this is especially important (8:52) for the women in this community who do dumbbell workouts, and here's why. When you train with (8:56) heavy barbells or machines that lock you into a fixed path, your body can sometimes produce (9:02) results even with a weaker connection just because of the sheer load that is forcing (9:07) the muscles to work, but with dumbbells, it works differently.

You're often training through (9:12) full range of motion with moderate weights. Your weights are free to move wherever, so you (9:17) really need to activate your stabilizer muscles, which is the one thing that is amazing about (9:23) using dumbbells in my opinion, but in that environment, your results depend much more on (9:28) how well you're actually activating the right muscles, not just how much weight you're moving. (9:33) So when you're fully in that connected to the muscle that you're working, the moderate (9:38) weights become deeply challenging in a way that produces real change.

The load does not have to (9:42) be extreme, and the intention is there. There's also something we're saying about muscle dominance. (9:49) So most women have certain muscles that are just naturally stronger and more neurologically awake (9:54) than others.

The quads tend to dominate the glutes, especially in a lot of women. The biceps (9:59) tend to dominate over the back. The front deltoids tend to dominate over the chest.

This is not (10:05) a flaw, it's just a pattern that develops from how we move throughout our daily life. (10:09) When you train without that mind-muscle connection, those dominant muscles (10:12) are going to keep doing what they always do. They take over, and the muscles that you're (10:16) actually trying to develop, the ones that you really want to change and would also change how (10:22) your body looks and performs, they stay quiet.

Building the connection is how you interrupt the (10:28) pattern and really start giving the right muscles the stimulus that they need to grow. (10:33) There are a few reasons as to why so many women miss this mind-muscle connection, (10:37) so I kind of want to walk through them. Number one is speed.

Most of us were taught to count reps (10:42) and get through the set, get through the circuit, whatever it is. We focused on completing the number, (10:47) not on what is happening inside the movement. The faster you move through a rep, the easier (10:51) it is for momentum to take over.

The weight moves, but the muscle is not necessarily doing (10:56) the work. Number two is going too heavy too soon. So when you load up with more weight than (11:01) you can control with intention, your body finds any way to complete the rep.

Bigger, (11:06) stronger muscles are going to compensate for the ones that are actually supposed to be working, (11:10) and the targeted muscle does not get the stimulus that it's needed. Number three is (11:14) distraction. When you are halfway through a set and your brain is already on your to-do list or (11:19) you're watching something on your phone, your muscles do the bare minimum to move that (11:24) weight.

Your brain is not giving them the signal to do more because you're distracted. (11:28) Number four, nobody taught most of us that this was actually a thing. We were just told to do (11:33) the exercise.

We were not told how to feel. The intentional awareness of what activation (11:39) actually feels like in a specific muscle is information that a lot of women have never (11:43) received. And so with all that said, the mind-muscle connection, that's a skill.

And guess what? (11:48) It's a skill that can be learned, which is exciting. The more that you practice it, (11:52) the more automatic it becomes until feeling your muscles work is just a part of how you (11:56) work out. And here's what actually makes the difference.

Knowing what muscles you are (12:01) actually trying to work. This sounds obvious, but this is where a lot of people skip ahead too (12:05) quickly. Before you even start an exercise, I want you to really look at the exercise (12:10) and really be clear on what the muscle is supposed to be doing during the work.

(12:15) So if you're doing a deadlift, your goal is not just to move the weight. Your goal is to load (12:19) and work your glutes and your hamstrings. If you're doing a row, your goal is to not just (12:23) pull the weight towards you, it's to engage your lats and back, really keep that core stabilized (12:28) during that row.

If you're not sure what a muscle is targeting, take a minute and look it up. (12:34) A quick search or watching a demo that can give you a lot of clarity, because if you don't know (12:39) what you're trying to feel, it becomes almost impossible to create that connection. I also want (12:44) to make sure that your form actually supports that muscle.

So once you know what muscle you're (12:49) trying to target, the next step is making sure that your form allows that muscle to do its job. (12:54) If your positioning is off or your setup is not quite right, your body (12:58) is going to default to whatever muscles can compensate and get the job done. (13:02) So before you jump into your working sets, I want you to take a moment to check in with (13:07) your form.

Are you set up correctly? Are you moving through the right range of motion? Does (13:11) the movement match what the exercise is supposed to look like? This is one of the reasons why (13:15) I do video demonstrations inside my Move with Julie app because it really does take the guesswork (13:21) out of it. You can actually see what the movement should look like and allow you to visualize how (13:27) it should feel. Because if your form is not aligned, you can be working as hard as you want, (13:31) but the work is not going to land where it's supposed to be.

I kind of jumped ahead, but (13:36) I also want you to really visualize the movement before you start. So before each set, take a few (13:42) seconds to really picture the muscle that you're about to work. Imagine it lengthening as you lower (13:47) and contracting as you lift the kind of mental rehearsal.

This has actually been shown to (13:52) increase muscle activation because your nervous system starts firing the right pathways before (13:57) you even begin the movement. It's not about overthinking your workout. It's really about (14:01) priming your body to perform better.

And it literally takes like three to five seconds. (14:06) So as you're picking up the weight, really start to visualize, okay, how is this going to feel as (14:10) I lower the weight and how, as I lift the weight. I also want you to start with a lighter set to find (14:17) the muscle.

So before you go into heavier working sets, take one set and make it all about connection. (14:22) Use a lighter weight, like way lighter than you normally do, and focus entirely on feeling (14:27) the muscle working through the full range of motion. You're not trying to fatigue yourself (14:31) here.

You're just trying to train your nervous system to recognize how to activate that muscle. (14:36) This is especially helpful for muscles that tend to be quieter, like the glutes during lower body (14:41) or back during pulling movements. For example, doing a few slow controlled banded glute exercises (14:48) before your main workout can help you wake up your glutes so that by the time you're moving (14:52) into heavier lifts, they're ready to do that job.

And you'll see that in a lot of the warmups and (14:58) in the activation sets on like lower body, you'll see I have either body weight or I have (15:04) banded exercises that you can do before you're actually going into those working sets of dumbbells. (15:11) I also want you to give your brain a target. So your brain responds really well to physical (15:17) feedback.

So if you're struggling to feel a muscle, lightly place your hands on that muscle. That can (15:22) make a big difference during the movement if you can. For example, you can place your hand on (15:26) the back of your hip during a glute movement or on the side of your back during starting (15:31) the row movement.

This is going to give your brain a clear signal of where to focus. It might (15:37) seem simple, but this is something that coaches use all the time, especially if you're an in-person (15:42) personal trainer. If you've ever had an in-person personal trainer, they're oftentimes like touch the (15:46) muscle and tell you, okay, this is what we're going to be working.

This is, again, just going (15:50) to help bridge the gap between thinking about the muscle and actually feeling it. (15:54) Next up, slow the movement down, especially on the way down. This is one of the biggest (15:58) shifts that you can make immediately.

Most women are just moving through their reps too quickly, (16:03) which is making it very easy for momentum to take over and for other muscles to jump in. But when (16:08) you slow down the lowering phase of that movement, you're giving your brain time to stay connected (16:13) to the muscle the entire way up throughout the rep. So for example, if you're doing a glute bridge, (16:18) try lowering for the full three seconds or full three counts, pausing briefly at the bottom and (16:24) then driving back up through your heels while squeezing your glutes at the top.

You are going (16:29) to feel a level of engagement when you really do slow down that movement and allow every single (16:36) muscle fiber to work. Beyond just feeling it more, this also matters for results. The lowering (16:42) phase, also known as the eccentric, this is where a lot of the stimulus for muscle growth (16:47) actually happens.

When you rush through that, you're essentially skipping out on one of the (16:51) effective parts of the rep. Slowing down does not make your workouts easier. It makes every (16:56) rep more effective.

And last but not least, use simple, specific cues while you're lifting. So (17:01) what you say to yourself during a set matters more than you think. Instead of focusing on (17:06) just getting through the reps, giving yourself a simple cue that keeps your attention on the (17:11) muscle.

So think about things like driving through your heels, pulling your elbows back, (17:16) leading with your glutes, depending on the movement. These small cues keep your brain (17:20) engaged in the rep and help prevent other muscles from taking over. Over time, this (17:25) becomes more automatic.

And this is when the mind-muscle connection starts to feel natural (17:29) instead of something that you have to think so hard about. Okay, so now that you have the tools, (17:34) let's kind of talk about what actually changes when you start training this way. So when you (17:39) build a strong mind-muscle connection, it's not just about feeling your workouts more.

It will (17:44) directly impact the results that you see, how your body performs, how your body holds up over (17:49) time. The first thing is that you'll start seeing better results from the work that you're already (17:54) doing. So when you are connected to the muscle that you're trying to train, you're actually (17:57) giving that muscle the stimulus that it needs to grow.

You're no longer just moving your weight (18:02) from point A to point B. You're making sure that the right muscles are doing the work throughout (18:06) the entire rep. And that means that your glutes are actually working during your lower (18:10) body workouts. Your back is actually working during your pulling movements.

The muscles that (18:15) you are trying to develop are actually finally getting the attention that they need. And this (18:20) is why lighter weights can suddenly feel more challenging. It's not because you got weaker.

(18:24) It's because you're no longer relying on momentum or letting other dominant muscles take over. You (18:30) are keeping tension exactly where it's supposed to be. And over time, that leads to better (18:34) muscle development, better strength in right places, and results that actually reflect the (18:39) effort that you're putting in.

The second thing is that you reduce your risk of injury. (18:44) So when the right muscles are not doing the job, your body is always going to find a way to (18:49) compensate. That oftentimes looks like your lower back stepping in during those lower body (18:54) movements, your shoulders taking over when your back should be doing the working, or your joints (18:58) just absorbing stress that other muscles were meant to handle.

When you train with intention (19:03) and stay connected to the targeted muscle, you are distributing the load, the way that (19:08) your body was designed to do. And you are keeping that stress in the muscle instead (19:11) of shifting it to your joints or other areas that are already overworked. This is what is going to (19:17) help to protect your body over time.

The third thing is you avoid muscle imbalances. So most (19:22) women already have certain muscles that tend to dominate. Like again, what I mentioned, (19:27) your quads might take over for your glutes, your arms might take over for your back, (19:31) your front delts might take over for your chest.

But when you build the mind-muscle (19:34) connection, you start to catch those patterns in real time. You notice when something else is (19:39) trying to take over and you just adjust. You bring the focus back to where it's supposed to be, (19:43) and over time that creates more balance in your body, better symmetry, and stronger support across (19:48) all of your exercises.

The fourth and last thing is that you just get more out of every single (19:54) workout. And this is the part that I really want you to hear. You're not wasting effort (19:58) or leaving progress on the table.

You finish your workouts knowing exactly what you worked (20:03) and where your effort went. All right, there you have it. Everything you need to know about (20:07) the mind-muscle connection, let's kind of bring it home.

So the mind-muscle connection is your (20:11) brain's ability to send a clear, intentional signal to a specific muscle that you're training. (20:16) When it is strong, your reps are going to land where they're supposed to and help you build (20:20) the muscle that you're actually targeting. When it goes missing, those dominant muscles (20:24) are going to take over and the muscles that you want to develop stay quiet.

(20:28) Here's kind of what an overview of what we covered today. So number one, (20:31) the mind-muscle connection, that is a neuromuscular skill. And just like any other skill, (20:36) it's something that you can build with practice.

Number two, speed, distraction, going too heavy, (20:41) and muscle dominance patterns are the main reasons it goes missing. Number three, slow down the (20:47) eccentric phase of every rep and let the muscle actually feel the load. Number four, use a light (20:54) preactivation set before your working sets to wake up those targeted muscles.

Number five, (20:59) place your hand on the muscle, really visualize the contraction before you begin, (21:03) and cue yourself with specific language during the rep. And last but not least, number six, (21:08) match your weight to what you can actually feel, not just what you can move. You're already (21:12) putting in the time, you're already showing up, and this is how you make sure every rep of that (21:17) time actually does what it's supposed to do.

If you want a program where we have cues, (21:23) we have structure, we have progression, we have the video demonstrations already for you, (21:27) the movement with Julie app is exactly that. We get five brand new dumbbell only workouts every (21:33) single week. We have a lower body, upper body, cardio and core, shoulders and glutes, and full (21:37) body.

With two workouts to choose from every single day, we have a 60 minute or 30 minute, (21:42) depending on your time constraints. Literally all you need is a few pair of dumbbells in a small (21:45) space. There are cues in there, there's notes in there.

We have video demos, like I mentioned, (21:51) we have alternate exercises if you need something easier or body weight just to start with. Body (21:55) weight is a great way to also just start and again visualize that movement. So even if you don't (22:02) have lighter weights to work with, or if you already are lifting with lighter weights and you (22:06) just want to start your first set with no weights at all, that is going to be like a visualization (22:11) set.

I'm telling you, it is such a game changer. But if you want to learn more about my double (22:16) only workouts, you can go to sale. That's S-A-L-E dot movement Julie.com. If this episode (22:22) resonated with you, I think you will also love episode 263, how to keep yourself challenged.

(22:27) We don't have access to other weights. I will link that in the show notes below so you can easily go (22:32) check that out. The best thing that you can do if this episode helps you is just pass it on, (22:36) share it, leave a review, and also make sure you're following the show on Apple podcasts and (22:40) Spotify.

Every single one of those things helps more women find this content and I'm so, so (22:45) grateful for it. All right, that is all that I have for today's episode. Go show those muscles (22:49) that you actually made it.

I love you so dang much. I made it. I'll talk to you in the next one.

(23:01) All right, sister, that's all I got for you today, but I have two things that I need you to do. (23:07) First thing, if you are not already following me on the gram, be sure to do so Julie A. Ledbetter. (23:12) Yes, it's with an A in the middle for that daily post-workout real talk, healthy tips and tricks, (23:18) and honest accountability to keep your mind and heart in check.

The second thing, be sure to (23:23) subscribe to Apple podcasts to never miss an episode. Thank you so much for joining me. It (23:30) means the absolute world and I'm going to leave you with one last thought.

The most beautiful (23:34) women that I have met in my life are the ones who are completely confident and secure in being (23:40) authentically themselves. Remember that beauty goes so much deeper than the surface. So go (23:46) out there and embrace your real because you're worth it.

 
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