The ability to achieve a pure muscle contraction is one of the keys to successful long-term lifting. A pure muscle contraction starts with a stretch that puts the muscle under a high degree of tension. The high degree of tension is maintained throughout the entire range of motion of a weight lifting exercise. The feeling of putting the muscle under a stretch while contracting against the stretched feeling in your muscle can change your life when it comes to weight training. Why? Because the constant tension that it produces is what triggers hypertrophy and strength.
A Pure Muscle Contraction
A pure muscle contraction does not happen by simply going through the motion of a weight training exercise. A pure muscle contraction is intentional and deliberate. It takes focus and a lot of practice before it becomes a highly developed skill. If you start to focus on how much weight you are lifting, you will probably lose the feel of a pure muscle contraction.
When Lifting Weight Becomes The Goal
When you focus on lifting a lot of weight, or doing a lot of reps, it is easy to start using momentum. Momentum decreases the tension in the muscle which decreases your ability to achieve a pure muscle contraction.
When your main goal is simply to lift a lot of weight, you will tend to involve a lot of muscles within a lifting motion instead of focusing on a specific muscle that you want to build and strengthen.
When your main goal is simply to lift a lot of weight, you will tend to look for the path of least resistance within the lifting motion, because the path of least resistance is the best path for lifting as much weight as possible. However, the path of least resistance is not the best path for a pure muscle contraction that maintains tension on a specific muscle throughout an entire range of motion because it will over-involve the supporting muscles that assist the main muscle you are trying to build and strengthen.
When your goal is simply to lift a lot of weight, you will tend to stabilize your shoulder blades and collar bone to feel safer and lift more weight. The problem is that there are times when you need to allow freedom of motion to your shoulder blades and collar bone if you want to get the best pure muscle contraction for your chest, shoulders, and back, when doing pressing and pulling motions.
Think about this; It doesn’t take much weight to get a pure muscle contraction out of your hamstrings when doing a deadlift because it is not about the amount of weight you use; it is much more about positioning your behind a little further back so that your quads don’t take over.
Likewise, it doesn’t take a lot of weight to get a pure muscle contraction out of your quads when doing squats. Rather, it is much more about shifting your hips a little forward and directing the force of your feet to push forward, outward, and downward, instead of only pushing downward in order to lift a lot of weight. When you do this, your feet won’t move forward because friction will hold them in place. By pushing your feet forward and outward into the ground, you will activate your quads more than you would if you simply push straight down into the ground. Practice without weight before trying to do this with heavy weight. Actually, if you do it right, you won’t need to use heavy weight. You can use this same principle when doing push-ups for your chest by pushing your hands inward towards the midline of your body while also pushing forward into the ground. Try this instead of only pushing downward into the ground.
An Alternative To Lifting A Lot of Weight
All of the concepts that I discussed in this article about achieving a pure muscle contraction are things that I have had to learn to build and strengthen muscle without using a lot of weight. The reason that I often use this approach is to keep my joints and skeletal structure from breaking down after four decades of weight training. Of course, you can lift heavy if you want to, but if you reach the point where your joints and skeletal structure begin to breakdown from heavy lifting, there is an alternative that is very effective for maintaining muscle size and strength. The best alternative I know of is to learn how to activate a pure muscle contraction without thinking that you need to use a lot of weight every time you work out. Consider these concepts if you want to be a life time lifter who is able to maintain healthy joints, and a healthy back, tendons, and ligaments. May God bless you with the best of training.
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