MumStrong NZ

Mind-muscle connection 🧠💪

It’s something I talk about a lot in Mum Strong and Restore Your Core - creating those neuron “highways” between your brain and your muscles so you can recognise, recruit and control them.

This can be particularly important to work on after pregnancy, an injury, or a period where you’ve lost that connection with a particular muscle. Sometimes we need to slow things down, change the position or use a different cue/tactile feel to help your brain find the muscle again.

But it’s not all black and white. Sensation isn't a reliable yes/no test of muscle activity.

Whether you feel a muscle working depends on so many things - the movement you’re doing, whether it’s an isolated or compound exercise, the load, your position, your technique and which muscles are sharing the workload.

Take a deadlift. You might not strongly feel your glutes, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t working. They’re contributing alongside your hamstrings, back and other muscles to produce the movement, whether you can isolate that feeling or not.

So yes, we want to develop a good mind-muscle connection - especially when we’re trying to restore or improve recruitment and control.

But “I can’t feel it” doesn’t automatically mean “it’s not working.”

Feeling a muscle is useful feedback. It’s just not the whole story. ❤️

This season of my training has looked a little different.

For the last four weeks, it’s been about rehab. It’s been about strengthening the muscles that weren’t doing their job properly, which meant other areas were picking up the slack, leaving me gripping, compensating, and ultimately creating a lot of pain.

This has meant deloading some of the weight, slowing things down, and choosing control over load.

And while my pride finds it hard to let go of the heavier weights, I also know the benefits I’m going to get from taking the time to rebuild properly. This is an investment in my body, and I know I’ll come out stronger because of it.

I’ve talked about this before, but increasing the weight on the bar isn’t the only way we get stronger. Strength is also control, stability, mobility, and being able to move our bodies well.

Because ultimately, functionality matters more than a number on a bar. Being strong isn’t just about what we can lift, it’s about being able to live a full life, move without pain, and continue doing the things we love.

Sometimes strength looks like adding more weight. Sometimes strength looks like knowing when to take it away. 💛

One of the best times to join Mum Strong has just popped up! 🙌

A couple of ladies have transferred to different class times, which means 1 spot has become available in my Thursday 9:30am class and 1 spot in my Wednesday 5:00pm class.

These, along with my Monday 9:30am class, are always the first classes to sell out and are usually fully booked before the term even begins. It's very rare for a space to open up, so if you've been waiting for the right time, this is it!

There are also just 1–2 spots remaining in:
✨ Monday 12:30pm
✨ Monday 5:00pm
✨ Thursday 10:30am
✨ Friday 9:30am

Winter has a way of making us want to stay home, but you'll never regret showing up for yourself. Those short, cold days are exactly when moving your body, building strength, and connecting with an amazing community can make the biggest difference.

There will never be a "perfect" time to start. The best time is now. 💛

Send me a DM or head to www.mumstrong.co.nz to grab your spot before they're gone!

I saw a post the other day where a woman said, "I go to the gym to make sure I don't end up in a true crime documentary." It made me laugh, but it also made me think.

As mothers, and as we get older, our reasons for exercising often change. Yes, we might want to get stronger or change our body composition. But I think social media has convinced us that those are the only reasons we should exercise, and it's just not true.

Sometimes the biggest reason we move is because it clears our minds, regulates our nervous system, and helps us show up as better people for ourselves and for our partners, children, friends, and family.

I love that we're finally learning more about how women should train. The science is valuable. But somewhere along the way, social media has turned it into, "If you're not doing it this way, you're wasting your time."

Research tells us what tends to work for the majority. It doesn't know your life, your stress, your schedule, or what you'll actually enjoy enough to keep doing.

Exercise is about so much more than changing your body. It's about your mental health, your confidence, your community, and creating a routine that supports your life.

So yes we absolutely want to learn from science (because you all know how much I love science), it's such great information, but don't forget that real life has a lot of grey. The best plan is the one you can stick to because it works for you, not the 26 year old influencer with more time and energy to put into it!

Starting is always the hardest part.

Even I struggle with it. On holiday I took a full week off training, and by the end of it I genuinely couldn't be bothered getting back into exercise. For a moment, I even thought, "Maybe I just won't."

Of course I did, because movement is such a big part of my life. But those thoughts reminded me just how hard it can feel to start again after any break.

The good news is that once you take that first step, it gets so much easier. That's often the hardest part.

That's why classes can be so helpful. You don't have to rely on motivation alone. You have a time to show up, people expecting you, and the accountability to keep you going.

So, if you've been waiting for the perfect time, stop waiting. The perfect time doesn't exist. All you have is now.

www.mumstrong.co.nz

A little reminder: the goal of strength training is to make it a part of your life forever.

The strength, muscle, and confidence you build come from consistency over time.

Yes, the goal is to progress and eventually lift heavier - but that doesn’t have to happen overnight, and it doesn’t have to happen straight away.

Your training just needs to be challenging for who you are today. And that goalpost will naturally shift depending on how you’re feeling, what season of life you’re in, and what your body needs.

Consistency over perfection. Showing up will always beat waiting for the “perfect” time, the perfect workout, or the perfect conditions.

The real goal is simple: keep showing up, keep building, keep moving forward. For life.