Here’s my second tip for improving your mind/muscle connections:

2. Use High-Rep Sets to Feel the Muscle

For the purpose of this section, when I say, ‘high reps,’ I’m talking about 15 to 20 reps per set.

For what it’s worth, my personal goal count for high-rep work is 20 reps per set. If I were you, I’d go for 20 reps too.

Often, everyone is swooning over low and medium-rep sets. You’ll see people working exclusively in the 1-5 rep range thinking they’re a powerlifter. You’ll see people locked into 8-12 reps for years because it’s the ‘magic hypertrophy rep range,’ and I’m not joking.

Unless these people are doing sit-ups or calf raises, you’ll rarely see them using 15 to 20-rep sets. For real though, why do people reserve high-rep work for abs and calves, only to completely ignore it for every other muscle group? I don’t get it. They’re leaving so much on the table.

Now I’d like to explain how high-rep sets can be used to improve your mind/muscle connections; it has to do with the burn. High-rep sets bring the burn, and it seems like an annoyance at first, but you can actually use the burn as a tool to help build your mind/muscle connection.

When transporting yourself into your muscle, the burn highlights your final destination. It’s literally guiding you towards improvement.

In order to develop a strong connection, you must physically feel which muscle group is working during an exercise. Yes, Step 1 has you researching your exercises and which muscles they’re working, but you need to physically feel that muscle group working in the moment in order to fully understand.

Learning about something is great, but actually experiencing and feeling it is so much better. This is why high-rep training is so important for our goal of improved mind/muscle connection.

By performing high-rep sets, which induce burn in the targeted muscle groups, you will definitely feel the targeted areas. As a direct result of this feeling, you’ll be able to focus your attention to the working muscles. The more you think about flexing the muscle as it works, the more you’ll develop your mind/muscle connection.

Possessing strong mind/muscle connections is priceless, as it allows you to become one with your workouts.

You’ll heighten your entire training experience by connecting your mind and body. Obtaining this skill advances you past the newbie peasant stage of training.