4 Interesting Facts about Mind-Body Connection

The body and mind are intimately intertwined. We must always look at the bigger picture. Despite Western medicine’s attempt to further break the body up into distinct “parts,” everything is connected. Your stress at work and your shoulder pain are absolutely related. Your toxic relationship and your sinus infection is likely the result of your body’s symbiosis. Emotional stress manifests itself physically, and, conversely, physical pain impacts our emotions.

“Muscles” are just used for classification purposes, but that is not exactly how your brain works. You’re never just using one muscle at a time, and the same thing goes for your organs: nothing works in solitude, but rather, your body is a symphony.

Everything is originated in your brain. The brain is responsible for the function of all bodily functions (heart beat, digestion, respiration, etc.), and it also controls your perception. Thus, it would be foolish to consider pain without first understanding the cognitive processes behind it. 

1. Research suggests that thinking about contracting a specific muscle is beneficial for improving muscular hypertrophy. A study of 18 resistance-trained men found that "individuals can increase triceps brachii or pectarilis major muscle activity during the bench press when focusing on using the specific muscle at intensities up to 60 % of 1RM." Essentially, thinking about activating a muscle can increase its activation at lower intensities.
2. A history of injury to a certain area can perpetuate symptoms, even after your body has healed. Pain and trauma form pathways in your brain. There's an adage that says "neurons that fire together wire together." This means that if a pathway of pain becomes familiar to you, it can be difficult to dissociate the two things. Let's say you tore your UCL in your elbow throwing a baseball. You may still experience pain when throwing, even long after the tissue has healed, because your brain associates throwing with danger.
3. You can improve on a skill using mental imagery. "Vandell et. al. reported that groups of subjects who mentally practiced basketball free throws or dart throwing demonstrated improved skills similar to those who physically practiced the task. The [mental practice] and [physical practice] groups improved 23% and 24%, respectively, as compared with no improvement in a control group that did not practice either task," mentioned Warner and McNeill. That means that the group who practiced a skill using mental imagery alone had nearly the same level of improvements as did the group using physical practice!
4. Mental practice can improve balance. Fansler et. al. tested 36 elderly female subjects. Women were randomly assigned to one of three groups: non-sense+physical practice, relaxation+physical practice, or ideokinetic facilitation+physical practice. The final group "showed fewer subjects with negative change and more subjects with greater than 100% improvement." Effectively, the combination of mind-body awareness along with physical practice elicited significant improvements for the subjects. "This improvement in balance, which is a fundamental component of human movement, suggests that [ideokinetic facilitation] has promising usefulness in health care." Perhaps this study could be expanded into other areas, as well!

Wim Hof, a dutch man known as the "Ice Man" has been able to achieve incredible feats using meditative breathing. He regularly goes for dunks in freezing cold water, hikes frigid mountains in only his shorts, and has even demonstrated control over his autonomic nervous system. If you haven't heard of this guy, I recommend watching this video and reading more about him! He's a pretty incredible and inspiring man.

There's still much research to be done on the concept of mind-body connectivity. I believe that with a strong mind, we can build a strong body. We cannot achieve what the mind doesn't believe. Incorporating mental imagery into your routine might just be the change you need to break through your training plateaus!

Mind and Body Awareness

It is amazing to me how out of touch we have become with our own bodies. The phrase "somatic intelligence" refers to our sense of mind and body, and how they connect with one another. We are so overwhelmed by other trivial day-to-day tasks, that those two elements are completely disconnected. In my opinion, your body is (or should be) your number one priority no matter what.

A few cues I give a lot are "squeeze your butt" or "keep your core tight." They sound pretty simple and straight forward, right? You'd be surprised at how many people either don't understand those cues, or are simply unable to execute them properly. In an ideal world, I shouldn't have to remind someone to squeeze his butt during a lift—it should be automatic. Unfortunately, we live in a world today where we are almost always sitting, frequently stressing, and barely focusing. For many of us, we are more concerned with errands, work-related tasks and our social lives that we literally forget how to move our own butts.

Look at any gymnast or dancer: he or she has an amazing sense of control. Every single movement and contraction is intentional. Gymnasts understand how to "stay tight" when they need to, and dancers know how to absorb force when they land on their toes, while the overwhelming majority of people I've met do not. I watch people walk with lead feet on the ground, stomping up the stairs, and I see athletes who deadlift heavy weights without a properly braced midline.

What does all of this mean? Our minds and are bodies are now more disconnected than ever. I believe that many injuries or aches have to do with our lack of awareness. I can show you what a proper squat should look like, but the trickier part is to make you understand how a proper squat should feel. My goal is to make you aware of what parts of your bodies are working and when.

For someone who is still new to the gym (and even for experienced gym-goers), learning how to create that kind of tension is difficult. When we are seated at a desk, our shoulders are rounded forward, are necks are looking down, are glutes are turned off and our cores are on vacation. Take that person into a gym and they're going to carryover those same habits to their lifts, unless someone teaches them how to engage their muscles properly.

I believe that, at least for a while, everyone should have a coach or a trainer. I don't care if you've been working out for 10 years, it's always important to have someone else watching you. I sure as hell have other people to critique me, and it's extremely helpful. We can't always watch ourselves, even if there is a mirror in front of us. Just like you would have an editor proofread your article before submitting it into a local newspaper, you should make sure someone is watching you lift weights. If you want to avoid injury and see results, you need someone else's help. If a coach is too expensive, you should, at the very least take a video of yourself; I can guarantee you'll see some things on video you didn't notice beforehand.

The most important thing, however, is to be aware. The next time you do any movement, whether it's a lunge or a clean, take notice. What is contracting? Where do you feel the burn? Is there any pain with that movement? Are you breathing? Pay attention to these things and you'll be surprised of what your body will tell you.