One of the most important things to consider when resistance training is the time under tension.
The longer your muscles are working against resistance, the more strength and size they’ll develop. It’s something that has been well studied, and is generally accepted in the research. It makes sense as well, logically. The more work your muscles do, the more benefit they’ll gain.
It isn’t just a case of performing more sets and reps of an exercise though, because that’s a limited variable. Where do you draw the line? 10 sets? 20 sets? 50 sets?!
In this article we’re going to look at practical ways to increase your time under tension on exercises.
There are a few ways to increase the time under tension…
You can slow down the rep speed, so you take much longer to perform a rep. Think 5 seconds to lift a weight, and 5 seconds to lower it. This is SUPER tough! These are sometimes referred to as negative reps, especially when the lowering section is elongated.
Another one is to perform a paused rep, where you hit a position of high contraction and hold it. This was an approach that gained some traction and popularity in the 80’s, but didn’t last. It’s really boring, that’s why!
There’s a high rep set, where you perform. lot of reps of an exercise. More reps = more time under tension. The problem with this approach is its slow-twitch training heavy, so won’t build massive strength.
In my opinion the best one is to increase the range of motion of an exercise, so you are working against resistance for a long period of time. This improves flexibility and mobility as well as pure work time.
When you use one or a combination of these approaches, you can improve your time under tension significantly. This will translate into improved results in the same amount of time, making your workouts more efficient.
Increasing time under tension improves technique
When we train to increase time under tension, we have to really focus on the movements we’re executing. This means that the technique improvement is dramatic - especially with exercises such as curls, push ups, pull ups etc. You are slowing down the movement and working through a full range. That eliminates the chances of cheating through reps.
When you do this, you also reduce the chance of injury. A lot of soft tissue injuries in the gym are a result of poor form and rushed reps. The reality is that although muscle tissue is relatively elastic, connective tissues such as tendons and ligaments are much less so.
Rushed reps can result in the tearing or straining of these connective tissues, because they’re forced to deal with much greater ballistic forces than they’d normally have to. This is especially true if you’re exercising the cold, where tissues are stiffer, less flexible and more liable to damage, so outdoor training such as winter bootcamps should be performed with additional care.
Increasing time under tension can damage egos though!
Before I leave you, I want to issue you with a warning…
When you change the way you train, increasing your time under tension, your ego is going to be destroyed. I mean, properly kicked in the stomach.
You’ll have to reduce the amount of weight you lift by anywhere between 10 and 50% depending on the approach you take! When you slow down your reps, work through a full range of motion, increase the amount of reps you perform or pause your reps, you’ll have to change the weight you lift. It’s simply not possible to do these properly and keep your weights as high as they were.
You’ve been warned!
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