Muscle activation just means what percentage of the total muscle fiber population within that muscle you are able to recruit and stimulate when you train. This will come down to MANY things. The good news is you can control a lot of these things.
You have seen so many people hung up on moving big weight from A to B but they don't squeeze and contract the muscle properly so they aren't activating the muscle as well as they could. By squeezing HARD you stimulate the central nervous system more, which will lead to more fiber recruitment (muscle activation).
Spending more time under tension will also do this because it increases the stress on your muscle. Stop losing valuable growth potential with fast reps and instead try using eccentrics (negatives) for 3-5 seconds. FORCE your muscle to control that resistance and you WILL feel the difference.
During each rep mentally focus on tensing the muscle against the weight. It makes it harder, but you said you wanted GROWTH which requires improved muscle activation.
It's bigger muscles or a bigger ego, up to you.
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