Mind over matter: the brain alone can tone muscle

Lucca Valentine started this discussion · 2/16/2015

Can't remember if i posted this study before but having little to no time to pole, its been on the front of my mind (:o) This study suggests that just concentrating on exercising muscles for a certain period of time each day can strengthen muscles! I guess its kind of like athletes visualizing competitions before they do them or the brain not being able to tell much of a difference between visualizations and reality? I dunno but its pretty cool and i've been thinking reaaaaaally hard about getting stronger ;) http://www.breitbart.com/news/mind-over-matter-the-brain-alone-can-tone-muscle/ original journal http://jn.physiology.org/content/112/12/3219

BreitbartMind over matter, the brain alone can tone muscle - BreitbartATHENS, Ohio, Dec. 24 (UPI) — New research suggests muscles respond to simple thoughts of exercise; simply imagining exercise can trick the muscles

11 replies

Dolce Vita · 2/16/2015
This is really interesting! I had read once that just by watching someone exercise, you can burn some calories. Apparently when the body sees someone else exercising, your own heart rate will pick up. Obviously you aren't going to burn 1,000 calories just by watching, but I think it's interesting that just by watching someone else exercise, the heart rate will pick up.
Stefana of Light · 2/16/2015
Thanks for sharing this:):) the body mind connection is insane! Full circle madness ;)
PolarGirl · 2/16/2015
Well, that's good news. 'Cause I think about pole like, allllll the time :)
Allgold78 · 2/17/2015
Yes I had read this too. It's been proven in studies on athletes that it helps with muscle memory. This is good news for me too ;)
chemgoddess1 · 2/17/2015
The news article and the study state two very separate things (and why I HATE when journalists have no idea what they are reading when they write an article). "In conclusion, the cortex as a determinant of strength/weakness has received limited attention. We used immobilization to induce weakness and impairments in VA, and used MI to activate the cortex during immobilization. We measured the SP duration by stimulating the brain during a contraction to provide an index of GABAB-mediated inhibition. Our findings most likely suggest that neurological mechanisms arising at the cortical level are a substantial contributor to disuse-induced muscle weakness, and that regular activation of the motor cortical regions via MI attenuates disuse-induced losses in strength and VA by maintaining normal levels of inhibition." Also, check out the data that they somehow derived this study from....it is a joke. (try imagining the line not being in these graphs and tell me what you see) http://jn.physiology.org/content/jn/112/12/3219/F4.large.jpg?width=800&height=600&carousel=1 Sorry, I read stuff like this all the time. Not being a bitch, being a scientist.
chemgoddess1 · 2/17/2015
So my take on what the study shows....yes, indeed there is a link between muscle wasting and using our mind but it is also partly to do with us not exercising our mind to do those activities. Indeed "muscle memory". This study has no proof that these people got stronger, it shows that they had less muscle wasting while immobilized. These are two extremely different concepts.
PolarGirl · 2/17/2015
Chem, my comment before was joking and lighthearted, by the way. I enjoyed reading your comments today, and I definitely don't think you are a bitch. I do think you are a scientist! In fact, when I read your comment, in my own head I heard the voice of my good friend, who is a Harvard and Yale trained epidemiologist and professor of Public Health. She has the same fury at the same kinds of things, and people often misinterpret her intentions when she points things out like this (and think she's a bitch). But, I think, good on ya. You are absolutely right, and journalists get this stuff wrong all the time, because (1) they don't have the training to interpret this kind of literature, and (2) yes, they do need training, because while high level critical thinking skills do come easily to some of us, they definitely do not for most of us. Also, it is usually the case that people without this training who read the journalist's blog post or whatever DO NOT go back and read the actual journal article that was cited, so they are indeed relying on faulty or misleading information. But, you said it, visualization is still good because it "trains" the mind in ways that are incredibly similar to actual movement. But it's probably not going to make you "stronger" in a literal sense. I just love that you actually read that study. You are awesome :)
Lucca Valentine · 2/17/2015
Not a bitch at all and is why I like to link the actual study :) truth: I haven't read the study yet it's been in my open tabs for awhile on my computer. I just read the abstract and really it seems to be mostly a testament of nerves firing together wiring together vs letting the connections fade. Largely interesting to me because the concept of continuing to get stronger without continued muscle hypertrophy (and the ability to actually train daily and still get stronger so it has seemingly has little to do with actual tissue change but just nervous system wiring/strengthening) is one that boggles my mind/logic/have not found someone who can satisfactorily explain that and wtf is the feedback loop happening there and so the thought of it happening to some extent without actual contraction of the muscle is an interesting one. Thank you so much for reading the study, your (professional and well educated!) feedback is much appreciated. I can't pull this site up on my phone for some reason, but when I get to a computer I will at least check out the graph until I have time to read the study :) thanks again :)
RedFox · 2/17/2015
Ok, so that's settled....what about gaining flexibility with your mind? :P I"m kidding. But really, what do you think? But I"m kidding. Really. Land of the hopeful.
Lina Spiralyne · 2/18/2015
You're not kidding, it's possible. The problem is however that you have to have or in some way get/simulate a genuine interest for it. That's when your mind is continuously and automatically going to visualize you doing those flexibility exercises and plan ahead for every session. For long I had this genuine interest for backbending and it took me to good results even though I did contortion only once a week. In my mind there was always contortion and the visualizations of it. So I actually contorted my body once a week and my mind the other six. What I'm trying to say is that when your mind is focused and full of excitement and anticipation for what you're doing, that's when you are going to reach results. Then you will be able to use all your energy and capacity (mind and body) to make that true effort that it takes to progress. And that true effort will mean a lot converted to centimeters or seconds or whatever needs to get better. For a (long) while my mind got very focused on other things which outphased contortion. I could stretch but since I didn't think about contortion anymore it was impossible to make the needed effort for which you really have to involve your mind, which meant stagnation. My energy was already wasted elsewhere. Now it seems that I'm getting back on track with the mind work. More contortion is now circulating in my thoughts I find that I can focus and drive myself into those kind of efforts again that I could earlier. I haven't read the article referred to in this post and have only skimmed through the replies in the thread. But I can just conclude that if your mind is in the right place it's going to make all the difference for you. Nothing new really, but for me this fact has just been proven, firmly. It may just be a feeling but I do feel that I "think" myself more flexy. I don't call it magic, I call it a warm-up, but the difference in results look like magic!
RedFox · 2/18/2015
Thank you for that, Lina Spiralyne! I'll put some positive energy into my thoughts of stretching in between sessions. It's amazing that you were only doing one session a week and have such amazing flexibility and form. Your videos are always so inspiring.