Can you teach mind/body/muscle connection?

[Terry Monk]

After being out of lifting for such a long time, relatively speaking, I'm focusing on really good form. My mind/body/muscle connection is still there and as I was doing my bent over rows I was wondering.... is this something you can teach?
I've "trained" quite a few people and always tried explaining it but was never really successful, so I wonder: can you teach this, is it something that some people have and others don't or is it simply learned as years of lifting "teach" you?

I know that when doing bent over rows I was fully able to focus directly on my lats and really get the stretch and contraction just right, but so many people you see in the gyms are simply going through the motions it just looks sloppy and you can tell they aren't getting the full benefit of the workout.

Discuss.

[Bytsi]

I find that explaining what muscle you should be working, and where you should feel it helps. But it's a learning curve and some people get it more quickly than others. And of course they have to care and WANT to learn. If they're just there to put in time (like people who talk on their phones on treadmills), then nothing is going to help them. My favorite example is lat pulldowns - I see people working everything except their lats on this machine, and many have no clue it's even for the back at all...

I had a "lesson" on this concept myself today - I had the chance to try a pilates reformer demo - totally different than anything I've ever done, and it took a while to catch on to what muscles I was supposed to be feeling / working / using for the different exercises... I suspect I felt much like a beginner in the weight room would feel when trying a new exercise - and a good trainer makes ALL the difference. The pilates teacher could tell when I wasn't utilizing the right muscles and guided me to make the exercises work...

But you have to want to do it right, and be taught properly. There's too many subtleties (just look at the different versions of squat or deadlift form we see here and in the gym) to just wing it without risking injury (or at least lack of progress), yet that's what so many people do.

[Chris Correia]

Focus!

[AFI82]

It's taken me over a year to really understand the target area of a lunge. I've been doing them for a full year, but seemingly, not in the right way. One day it just kind of hit me. I now enjoy doing the exercise, as opposed to dreading having to do it as part of a routine.

Even something like the bench press that seems so straightforward (I understand now that it can be quite complicated, but for someone that's never done it before, you're basically just pushing on a bar). Having read through starting strength, though, I've picked up on things that I probably would have never noticed on my own. Having that instruction and being able to test things out slowly made a huge difference.

So, yes, I do think it can be trained. Some of the understandings come from personal epiphanies, others from outside instruction. But it can definitely be taught if someone is willing to learn it.