Despite playing a pivotal role in building muscle, time under stress and how it affects muscle growth rarely gets the recognition it deserves.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT), heavy lifting, and high-protein foods may be in the limelight, but this unglamorous but effective training principle dates back to the day the first free weights were created. I’ve been supporting strength training since. It also remains important in modern home training, including when using the best adjustable dumbbells. (opens in new tab).
But what does time in tension mean? Essentially, this is the total amount of time a muscle is working during an exercise, determined by the number of repetitions completed in each set and the speed at which you complete them. will be
Varying the duration of tension changes the stimulation of your workout and helps target different aspects of fitness such as muscle endurance, muscle hypertrophy and more (opens in new tab) Jinger Gottschall, Director of Applied Research, Wahoo Sports Science, said: (opens in new tab).
We sat down with Gottschall to explore relevant research and explore ways to manipulate time and get the most out of your workouts while under tension.
Jinger S. Gottschall received his PhD in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and continued his academic career as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Neurophysiology at Emory College of Medicine. She is an Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University and spent 12 years researching the effectiveness of various exercise regimens. For the past 25 years, she has coached endurance athletes in running and triathlon, from her recreational level to the professional. Most importantly, Ginger is passionate about physical activity and recognizes the importance of promoting a balanced and quality training program for her.
What is time under stress
Tension time is the time your muscles are in tension during your workout.
This includes both eccentric and concentric parts of the lift. Lengthening and shortening of working muscles. For example, while most of the effort is spent pushing the barbell his bench her press up and away from the chest (concentric phase), the pectoral muscles are still in tension as they control the descent of the bar. (eccentric phase).
Isometric contractions may also be utilized for manipulating time under tension (or tempo training). This is where the muscle length does not change during contraction. For example, sitting against a wall where you remain stationary but your leg muscles are still tense.
Does time in tension build muscle?
For those who want to know how to build muscle (opens in new tab)without the element of tense time, it is not an exaggeration to say that muscle gain (or hypertrophy) (opens in new tab)) is nearly impossible in adults.
“Muscle hypertrophy occurs when muscle protein synthesis exceeds muscle protein breakdown, resulting in a net net protein balance over a cumulative period,” published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. A 2019 study is summarized. (opens in new tab)“This can be achieved through both strength training and protein intake, which stimulates muscle protein synthesis and reduces muscle protein breakdown.”
In other words, you need to do some form of resistance training (like lifting weights or using the best resistance bands). (opens in new tab)) If you want to grow muscle, eat enough protein. And during that resistance training, the muscles need to be in tension for a certain amount of time.
How does stressful time affect performance?
In gyms around the world, people follow this rough advice:
- Do 4-6 heavy sets to improve strength.
- Complete 8-12 reps with moderate weight to build muscle.
- Do 12 or more repetitions with lighter weights to improve muscle endurance.
Time under tension is the principle behind this. idea:
- Four bicep curls with 2 seconds of eccentric (downward) phase and 1 second of concentric (upward) phase will keep the biceps tense for a total of 12 seconds.
- Doing 12 bicep curls at the same tempo jumps that number to 36 seconds.
However, disregard this as “fellow science”. take a risk.
“It’s important to overload your muscles in a way that challenges you toward your goals,” says Gottshall.
But she adds that the tempo you lift and your rep scheme (both important factors in determining your overall time in tension) will determine which aspects of your fitness your training will target. .
“If you want to gain muscle endurance, use lighter weights, more repetitions, and slower speeds to eliminate spontaneous fatigue. In this case, spontaneous fatigue is muscle endurance. If you want to build strength, use heavier weights, fewer reps, and increase your speed until your willpower exhausts you.”
So lifting lighter weights and lifting more reps to create more time under tension increases muscle endurance, or muscle strength that repeatedly exerts force against a load over an extended period of time. Helps build capacity.
On the other hand, lifting heavier weights with fewer reps and reducing overall time in tension helps increase an athlete’s strength (the ability to generate explosive force in a short period of time).
How long have you been in hypertrophic tension?
The two examples above focus on lifting light weights at a slow tempo to improve muscle endurance, or lifting heavy weights at a faster pace to build strength. To build muscle, you need to find the right middle ground between the two factors. Gotschall recommends adding weights to your regular exercises or doing repetitions.
You can also introduce tempo training that varies the times of the eccentric, isometric and concentric phases of the lift to challenge your muscles with new stimuli.
“The more time you spend in the eccentric phase of the movement, the more time you spend in a tense state,” says Gottschall. “Also, several studies have reported that training at low loads results in muscle hypertrophy similar to training at moderate and high loads when training to reach desired fatigue. .”
Still, it’s difficult to derive exact figures for optimal tense hours for muscle growth from the existing literature, says Gottshall.
A 2011 study published in The Journal of Physiology (opens in new tab) Leg extension exercises were completed at a slow tempo (6 seconds of eccentric and concentric phases) until fatigue resulted in a greater increase in muscle protein synthesis than when the same movements were performed quickly. Published 2015 study (opens in new tab) The journal refutes this, concluding that the observed muscle hypertrophy was similar in the study groups that performed training times varying from 0.5 seconds to 8 seconds.
So if hypertrophy is your goal, what kind of training should you aim for? A 2019 systematic review published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. (opens in new tab) People who want to maximize muscle growth should do 3-6 sets of exercises, each set consisting of 6-12 repetitions. Sets should be broken up with 60-second rest intervals. . Then put down some light weights. You should aim for moderate intensity between 60-80% of her 1RM.
Want to keep growing? Then increase the training volume by 12 to 28 sets per muscle each week.
