|
Untitled Document
Time Under TENSION
BY DWAYNE N. JACKSON AND JIM STOPPANI
Hey, you’re less than one minute away from bigger and stronger muscles
with M&F’s scientifically engineered set-timing technique
Give us a few seconds and we’ll give you stronger and bigger muscles. No,
we’re not promising that you can work out for less than a minute (different
magazine, different day). What we are promising is that if you focus on a specific
range of seconds, you’ll challenge your muscles in an entirely new way.
You see, while reps, sets and rest time are important variables in your workout,
the total amount of time you spend actually doing each set of an exercise can
also be critical to reaching your training goals. However, this time component
rarely has been taken into account when putting together a weight-training programme… until
now.
Time under tension (TUT) is a way of calculating the total amount of work you
place on a muscle. It refers to the total time a muscle resists weight during
each set. For example, if you did the barbell curl and it took you two seconds
to curl the weight up and another two seconds to lower it, that’s four
seconds of tension per rep. Performing 10 reps at this pace would take a total
of 40 seconds. Therefore, the TUT for that set is 40 seconds. If you increased
the speed of those reps to about three seconds, then it would take you only 30
seconds to complete a 10-rep set. Although the number of reps and the amount
of weight are the same, the second set might not increase your muscle mass to
the same level as the first. And that’s the basis of TUT training: focus
on sets that last for a certain amount of time based on your training goals.
For maximising strength, the ideal TUT is about 20 seconds or less; for muscle
mass, it’s at least 40 seconds; and for muscle endurance, it’s
at least 70 seconds.
Don’t abandon set and rep ranges just yet, though — you have good
reason to focus on them. Research shows that the best way to gain muscle strength
is by performing 1–6 reps per set; for muscle growth, your ideal rep range
is 8–12; and for muscle endurance, 15–30 reps prove most beneficial.
The problem is that all these ranges assume that each rep takes about four seconds
to complete. If you extrapolated those figures, you’d assume that the best
TUT ranges are 4–24 seconds for strength, 32–48 seconds for growth
and 60–120 seconds for endurance. However, strength coaches and training
experts have tweaked those values based on their own experience: Although no
controlled research has been done on the subject, their anecdotal evidence suggests
that the best TUT ranges are 4–20 seconds for strength, 40–60 seconds
for growth and 70–100 seconds for endurance.
IT’S ABOUT TIME
TUT ranges allow you to be more precise about the amount of work you place
on a muscle. Using the barbell curl example, if you did 10 reps at four seconds
per rep, you worked the muscle for 40 seconds, which coincidentally is the
optimal
TUT to stress a muscle for gains in mass. But if it took you only three seconds
to complete each rep (a TUT equal to 30 seconds), you weren’t training
the muscle optimally for growth, even though the reps are in the proper range.
This doesn’t mean you should stop counting reps. When you’re training
for muscle mass, continue to shoot for 8–12 reps. But incorporating TUT
training into your routine can allow you to widen that rep range to about 6–15
per set, as long as you stay within the TUT range of 40–60 seconds. So
if you decide to perform six reps of barbell curls, you would need to slow down
your reps to about seven seconds per rep for a total of 42 seconds of TUT. If
you did 15 reps of barbell curls, you’d need to keep the reps to about
3–4 seconds for a total of 45–60 seconds of TUT. (You don’t
have to take notes: “Reps and TUT” below, will help you calculate
the optimal reps, rep speed and total TUT for reaching your training goals.)
To monitor your rep speed and total TUT for every set, you need to watch the
clock. If you train with a partner, have him time you with a stopwatch, help
you count off reps at the right speed and keep you in your TUT window. If you
train alone, however, timing gets trickier. Try positioning yourself in view
of a wall clock or use a watch with a second hand or timer. You can also estimate
your time by counting off with the one-one thousand system: count the time it
takes to complete each rep and the set, starting with one-one thousand and counting
up.
Regardless of your training goals, it’s important to vary your reps and
TUT times within the range of your goal so you don’t get stuck in a rut.
Make weekly modifications, such as those suggested in the “Countdown to
Growth Programme” on the previous page. Each week, change the number of
reps you perform per set and the time it takes to complete each rep. If you continue
to modify your routine this way, then monitoring your training with the TUT principle
can be done indefinitely. Try the “Countdown to Growth Programme” for
eight weeks or create your own routine. Either way, we guarantee you’ll
see results…in mere seconds. M&F
|
     |
