While there are many, many people out there on bodybuilding programs in their quest to see a good weight gain, one thing many don't consider is time under tension. In the bodybuilding world, there are many ways in which you can go about adding muscle to your frame and one program is not necessarily going to be completely better than another, but there are some principles that generally determine how much muscle you are able to build - time under tension being one of them.
What Is Time Under Tension?
Time under tension can basically be described as how long a single muscle fiber is subjected to an overloading stress.
For example, if you perform three sets of bicep curls consisting of 8 reps each and you are using a 2 seconds up, 2 seconds down protocol, your total time under tension would be:
3 X 8 X 4 (two seconds up + 2 seconds down) = 96 seconds.
Then, to create an overloading stimulus on the muscle, you could correspondingly increase one of these factors to get a higher time under tension.
For bodybuilding purposes, usually you will increase the number of sets or slow down the rate at which you lift as you don't want to increase reps too high or else you'll move into more endurance type of work rather than strength and mass building.
Where Weight Fits In
In addition to total time under tension, you do have to take into account the amount of weight lifted. If you are lifting only 10 pounds with those bicep curls, that's going to be quite a different situation than if you were hoisting 30 pounds.
Obviously you want to maximize the amount of weight you are able to lift as this will play a pivotal role in making you stronger, but, if you aren't quite ready to bump up the weight but are looking for a way to increase the intensity, stimulus, and get greater muscle growth, then increasing the total time under tension is what you should be focusing on.
So, next time you're in the gym, be sure you keep this factor in mind. Many bodybuilders start to toy with super slow sets as a way to really slow down their lifting and ensure momentum is not doing any of the work at all, but as this is a very intense strategy, it should not be done on an ongoing basis every workout.
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