I've been training for several years and there's something we talk about surprisingly little on /fit/, even though it comes up in basically every gym conversation: muscle sensations. You know the classic line: "if you can't feel the muscle working, you're either doing the movement wrong or it's not the right exercise for you." Not necessarily the idea that your whole training should be guided by chasing the feel, but rather that if it's missing, something must be wrong.I'm asking because it's a weird one for me personally: I don't feel much during my sets (little burn, little pump) and that's across pretty much every type of exercise (compounds, machines, cables, isolation). Not for lack of trying either: I had a coach for several months specifically working on the mind-muscle connection, high-rep sets, breaking movements down phase by phase, etc. Oddly enough, I still get DOMS in the right spots the next day when I come back from a break, so the muscle is clearly working, I just don't feel it in the moment. So I'm genuinely curious how you all experience it, and I'd love a range of answers:- How much do you actually "feel" your muscles during a set? Vivid, diffuse, there from the first rep, only toward the end?- Would you say it's central to how you train, or more of a secondary thing you don't really care about?- Has it changed with experience? (Did you feel it more/less when you started out?)- And the big one: do you think "feel" is a good indicator of an effective set, or is it overrated?
i used to feel it very strongly when i was a complete beginner, now i only feel it very rarely in some muscles. i can always feel it in my bicep if i flex as hard as possible with my arm as bent as possible, and it feels like a lactic acid /low oxygen burn deep through the muscle. i can get it sprinting or swimming too, but not as strongly. not feeling it might mean you're not depleting or just dont have as many explosive fast twitch fibers, which can be due to genetics or training, or it might mean you just have better circulation, or more tolerance to that kind of pain
>>77352563you probably have low bodily-kinesthetic. you should feel the specific muscle you're targeting on sets that are well isolated. (e.g. preacher curls with an ez bar to failure)compound lifts like the classic barbell squat, it would be common to get gassed before you finish the set, so you could miss out if you're loading incorrect weights that are too light. it's also more difficult to tell all the muscles involved because there are so many. typically you would mostly feel the "bottle neck" muscle / the weakest muscle for the lift. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligences#:~:text=movement%20analysis%20(kinesthetic).-,Bodily%2Dkinesthetic,-edit
>>77352578feeling pain/strain of the muscle is not what kinaesthetics is about. Most of skills that kinaesthetics is about are performed unconsciously and its about position of your body in space and correct orchestration of movements, not "the feeling/sensation" of the muscle working.
Growing up I was really into comic book art so I looked at a lot of resources on anatomy which I think has given me an edge on my mind-muscle connection, I've been able to feel each muscle group since day 1. I suggest before your next session look at a YouTube drawing anatomy guide/class for the specific muscle group you'll be working on and see if that changes anything
>>77352563for isolations yes, i do feel my muscles quite abitoutside of SLDL, I usually dont feel my legs on bilateral heavy compoundsI dont feel shoulders whilst doing OHPunilateral leg exercises are a different story I can literally feel my quads getting fucked up whilst doing bulgarian splits. but no I dont think that the burn is a good indicator, if your weight is going up and your technique is solid thats all I care about desu
>>77352563pump is easy to achieve just by moving weight back and forth, but establishing mind muscle connection and being actually able to feel your muscle lengthening/stretch can take some time.
Never sure if these threads are shitposts. I have tried to describe it and the op will always act clueless. Like my 6 year old niece who doesnt know how to squeeze her bicep.
>>77352941Kek thought I was the only one that recognised him
>>77352965I regert my time spent here mostly
Lift until you feel it you fucking retard.If you don't feel it keep lifting.Now go lift and leave me alone.
>>77352578>>77352669So what would you recommend?
>>77353583Go outside
