If you are serious about sizing, you need to know that the quality of your rep is just as important as those amounts. One of the most effective and simplest ways to optimize your training and build muscle is to focus on time when you are in a state of tension.
What time is the tension?
The time under tension, often omitted as a TUT, refers to the time the muscle spends “working” (extension and contract) to resist external loads. Exercise physiologist Dean Somerset, CSCS, can help to extend the length of the exercise by running more people and running each person at a slower pace.
Tension time training It simply focuses on extending the period of each repetition of exercise to promote muscle growth.
How do you build muscle during tense times?
Bodybuilders have been using TUT training for decades because they can stimulate hypertrophy, growth and increased muscle cell size.
And if brocience isn’t enough to shake you, research published in Journal of Physiology We found that higher TUTs significantly increased the rate of muscle protein synthesis compared to lower times under tension.
Furthermore, research reviews Sports Medicine When focusing on the slower eccentric (decreased) stages of exercise, we reveal that the tempo of slower movements is most effective in hypertrophy.
This increased muscle development can be explained by two factors: metabolic stress and mechanical tension.
“Long tutues tend to produce greater metabolic stress and cause longer exposure to mechanical stress. Both can cause stimulation of new muscle growth,” Somerset says.
Metabolic stress occurs when the muscle accumulates remaining substances from ATP (energy) production. These chemical by-products include lactic acid, hydrogen, phosphates and creatine. Mechanical stress or tension, on the other hand, refers to the force placed on the muscle during resistance training.
Therefore, by increasing metabolic stress and mechanical tension, you force your body to adapt to the higher demands you place on it, leading to more muscle growth.
However, you cannot inflate your muscles without the right nutrition, especially the ingredients provided through protein and carbohydrates. These macronutrients provide the building blocks you need to promote muscle repair, recovery and growth.
Time benefits based on tension training
Tempo training is usually associated with hypertrophy. For good reason, it works. However, TUT has an additional advantage.
Build muscle endurance
Metabolic stress created by TUT is beneficial in building muscle endurance. The National Association of Sports Medicine (NASM) defines muscle endurance as the ability of muscles to create and maintain the production of force over a long period of time.
To maintain a particular workload for longer, muscles need to remove metabolic byproducts before they accumulate and fatigue.
“Longer tutu means getting your muscles to work for longer periods of time, which means they are efficient in managing fuel use and waste removal,” explains Somerset.
Boost MindMicre connection
Let’s be honest: do you unconsciously pump out the set during your strength training? Or are you focused on contracting specific muscles and fighting each person’s negatives?
The latter is known as Mind-Miekes Connection, an effective tool for increasing muscle size, research finds.
TUT helps achieve a greater mind-minded connection as it forces you to stay focused between longer reps, Somerset says. In other words, you cannot rush to move.
Improves strength
Time under tension training often emphasizes slowing down the eccentric or decreasing stage of exercise (such as lowering to squats). Research shows that this is the stage at which your muscles are the strongest and most powerful.
By increasing the time spent at the strongest stages of exercise, your muscles adapt to create more power. Result: High strength.
How to use time under tension in training
Now that you know what TUT is and the benefits it offers, here is how you can practice the theory:
1. Limit how many tats you do in a single training
If done correctly with difficult loads, paces, and rep counts, tempo training will cause considerable muscle damage, so expect to feel pain the day after training.
Sports Performance Coach James Shapiro, CPT advises that he is being careful and wrong. “If you want to use your limbs or be able to walk the next day, I recommend doing one or two exercises on the TUT.”
As your body gets used to new stimuli, you can gradually increase your tutorials.
2. Use a light load
Slowing the pace will prevent you from lifting your typical weight for a given number of reps. Be prepared to lighten the load with the tutorial.
“When choosing a load for TUT, when performing larger composite movements such as squats, lunges, bench presses, and rows, I recommend using the maximum 60-65% that you normally use,” says Shapiro.
Shapiro recommends that you get 10 to 20 pounds lighter than your normal weight and do 5 to 8 repetitions for single joint exercises such as bicep curls, triceps dilation, and leg extensions.
3. Use 2-0-1-0 tempo
There are endless tempo varieties to choose from. However, it’s best to start easily.
Starting with the 2-0-1-0 tempo, I propose Vanessa Mandell for CPT. Spend 2 seconds in the eccentric (lower) phase, 0 seconds in the mid-point of the exercise, 1 second in the concentric (lifting) phase, and 0 seconds at the end of the exercise.
“Many beginners are rushing to move, but incorporating a basic tempo like (2-0-1-0) will help them control their weight and get out of each person more,” says Mandel.
4. Try the 40-30-5 method
Once you’ve got a hang in your Tempo training, feel free to experiment with more challenging variations, such as the 40-30-5 method.
Using the 40-30-5 method, work for 40 seconds, rest for 30 seconds, and repeat until you complete 5 rounds. The weights you choose should feel challenging towards the end of the 40-second work interval.
But Mandel says it may be difficult for beginners and intermediate lifters to keep up with the same weight in all five rounds.
If necessary, extend the remaining interval to 40-45 seconds, allowing you to focus on working well during the work period. “As time goes by, you get 30 seconds of rest and feel the pump from this efficient way,” Mandel says.
