Do you know the voluntary contraction in bodybuilding?

Many of the bodybuilders or bodybuilding regularly use the voluntary contraction. This execution technique aims to perform exercises in the fitness room in a mindful manner in order to trigger themuscle hypertrophy. But is this relationship between the muscle and the brain really beneficial in the context of mass gain?

What is voluntary contraction?

Voluntary muscle contraction is a strength training technique whose objective is to solicit a muscle by full awareness when performing an exercise.

The human body is indeed programmed to do as little as possible. This permanent search for economy can be a limit in the context of a search for muscle volumeThis is because the muscles will not naturally use their full capacity.

When properly controlled, voluntary contraction can overcome your body's natural limitations by encouraging the recruitment of muscle fibres.

During a dumbbell curl or the bar to build up the biceps for example, the fact of having recourse to this method will avoid the phenomena of compensation or cheating. Concretely, by concentrating on your movement and on the contraction of the muscle, you will automatically suppress the solicitations of secondary muscles or the movements of balancing. This is mainly valid for the concentric phaseThe eccentric phase should not be neglected.

Voluntary contraction therefore allowsincrease the congestion. However, it should not be confused with eccentric and concentric contractions.

What is voluntary contraction?

Very simply, voluntary contraction consists of concentrating your effort on the muscle that is being worked.

The downside of this technique is that it requires reduce costs It is important to remember that the weights used in the exercises must be effective. That being said, working with lighter weights is also a great way to perform sustainably while avoiding injury.

The crunch exercise for the abdominal muscles is undoubtedly the best way to illustrate this muscle contraction. If it is easy to carry out tens of repetitions (even hundreds) by neglecting the quality of the movement, the voluntary contraction will make the task more difficult but will optimize the muscle development.

The connection between the muscles and the brain

The connection between the mind and the muscle is at the heart of the voluntary contraction technique. This ability of the nervous system to isolate the work on the solicited muscle was moreover the subject of a study conducted by researchers Danish and Spanish researchers in 2015. The latter focused their research work on the bench press exercise for the pectorals.

They drew two main conclusions. The first is that lifting too much weight prevents the athlete from setting up a voluntary contraction. To achieve this, they felt that this load should not exceed 60 % of the maximum repetition. The second is that concentrating on the muscle mainly solicited by the exercise (in this case the pectoral muscle for a bench press) makes it possible to improve the activation of the muscle fibres and to promote hypertrophy.

This connection between thehe muscles and the brain therefore seems to play an essential role in bodybuilding.

Which athletes use voluntary contraction?

As a general rule, the voluntary contraction is rather used by athletes used to weight rooms and having a certain level. For this technique to be effective, it is indeed essential to master the postures and movements to be carried out at the time of the exercises of musculation to benefit from this method.

Similarly, voluntary contraction will be more interesting for experienced practitioners in the sense that after years of bodybuilding, progress becomes slower and slower. Focusing on the right muscle cells will help the athlete not to stagnate.

If you are a beginner, it is better to start by perfectly understanding the basic exercises before launching yourself into the muscle contraction.

Why use voluntary contraction?

If you have been training for several years, voluntary contraction can be a new lever for progress.

It will help you isolate the work on the muscles you want to develop and feel the effects of your exercises. In this sense, this method can for example be of interest if you are looking to target your weak points and make up for a muscle retardation. It can help you develop your biceps, triceps, trapezius, back, shoulders, quads and glutes.

What type of exercises should I use it for?

For best results, voluntary contraction is mainly used on isolation exercises. This will allow you to focus on recruiting the fibres of the muscle group you are working on.

Nevertheless, it can be carried out on the whole of the exercises of musculation. On some of them, it is on the other hand more difficult to implement. If you do not manage to activate in a significant way your pectoral on a bench press You can also choose the barbell variant. The same applies to squats and pull-ups.

On the multi-joint exercisesThe large number of muscles involved naturally reduces the effectiveness of this contraction technique.

In any case, the feeling during an exercise is a personal sensation that varies from one athlete to another. It is therefore up to you to try the different possibilities and adjust your training program according to your objectives.

Conclusion

The fact of managing to voluntarily contract the targeted muscles thus offers several advantages, of which that to support the muscular growth. On the other hand, this technique is difficult to master and is therefore more suitable for seasoned athletes. If you begin in body-building, privilege the training of the postures and the gestures before integrating the voluntary contraction into your training plan.

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