Time Under Tension ( TUT )

obi604

what are people's opinion on time under tension ?

Alf Veedersane

obi604 wrote: »

what are people's opinion on time under tension ?

Context?

obi604

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Context?

Sorry.
in for example doing a bench press.

better to do lighter weight and time under tension for muscle growth

Alf Veedersane

Slowing tempo is a good tool for hypertrophy / muscle growth. But not necessarily the best or only way to illicit growth.

But certainly a good one.

obi604

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Slowing tempo is a good tool for hypertrophy / muscle growth. But not necessarily the best or only way to illicit growth.

But certainly a good one.

thanks. what do you think is the best for muscle growth?

Alf Veedersane

obi604 wrote: »

thanks. what do you think is the best for muscle growth?

I can't say what's best as people respond differently to different stumili but what's worked for me has been volume. Lots of it. Which, in a sense is increasing time TUT.

obi604

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I can't say what's best as people respond differently to different stumili but what's worked for me has been volume. Lots of it. Which, in a sense is increasing time TUT.

I dont get you, what do you mean by volume?

Cazale

obi604 wrote:

I dont get you, what do you mean by volume?

High numbers of reps and or sets.

Zillah

obi604 wrote: »

I dont get you, what do you mean by volume?

He means total number of reps.

I haven't done much research into TUT but it intuitively seems to make sense. We focus on numbers of reps, but not all reps are equal. Some movement are much shorter and easier than others. 3x12 of one type of exercises might not be equivalent to 3x12 on another...could be more effective - or at least more uniform - to do each for, say, 45 seconds, regardless of how many reps you can fit in.

obi604

Zillah wrote: »

He means total number of reps.

I haven't done much research into TUT but it intuitively seems to make sense. We focus on numbers of reps, but not all reps are equal. Some movement are much shorter and easier than others. 3x12 of one type of exercises might not be equivalent to 3x12 on another...could be more effective - or at least more uniform - to do each for, say, 45 seconds, regardless of how many reps you can fit in.

yeah, I know when I do my standard bench press, if I do 8 reps, it probably takes about 20 seconds.

But if I do the TUT, the muscles will be under pressure for probably twice as long or more and you'd imagine, this is better for growth. The weight will be less, but still......

Alf Veedersane

obi604 wrote: »

yeah, I know when I do my standard bench press, if I do 8 reps, it probably takes about 20 seconds.

But if I do the TUT, the muscles will be under pressure for probably twice as long or more and you'd imagine, this is better for growth. The weight will be less, but still......

If you did twice as many reps...

There are benefits to slowing down the movement, eg it can help you learn to control the bar better, but you don't have to skin the cat the one way to get results.

Mellor

obi604 wrote: »

yeah, I know when I do my standard bench press, if I do 8 reps, it probably takes about 20 seconds.

But if I do the TUT, the muscles will be under pressure for probably twice as long or more and you'd imagine, this is better for growth. The weight will be less, but still......

You are taking a narrow view of it tbh. Sure muscles are working for longer, but the force produced is way less. There isn't necessarily a way to trade off force v time as they are independent variables.

And what exactly do you mean by the "TUT"? All sets have a TUT, not something you add it. Obviously you're talking about increasing it but exactly what do you do

obi604

Mellor wrote: »

You are taking a narrow view of it tbh. Sure muscles are working for longer, but the force produced is way less. There isn't necessarily a way to trade off force v time as they are independent variables.

And what exactly do you mean by the "TUT"? All sets have a TUT, not something you add it. Obviously you're talking about increasing it but exactly what do you do

I mean that instead of just going to bench press and grabbing bar and just going up and down 8 times that I do it more measured, as an example take 4 seconds to go go down and 2 seconds to go up and do it 10 times.

Mellor

obi604 wrote: »

I mean that instead of just going to bench press and grabbing bar and just going up and down 8 times that I do it more measured, as an example take 4 seconds to go go down and 2 seconds to go up and do it 10 times.

As I said, I figured you meant increasing TUT. But there's a range slow reps that would qualify.

Everything I said above still applies. The TUT is increased, but the max force is less and the power is less.
Can these be quantified to say which is better for growth. I don't think so.
But imho, I'd prefer to go down a route with a high volume*, and aiming to increase that volume weekly.

*By volume I mean Total Reps x Load, (aka work done/tonnage), not just total reps.

Brian?

obi604 wrote: »

I mean that instead of just going to bench press and grabbing bar and just going up and down 8 times that I do it more measured, as an example take 4 seconds to go go down and 2 seconds to go up and do it 10 times.

I reckon you're over thinking this. What effect is this going to have if the weight is easily controlled?

Alf Veedersane

obi604 wrote: »

I mean that instead of just going to bench press and grabbing bar and just going up and down 8 times that I do it more measured, as an example take 4 seconds to go go down and 2 seconds to go up and do it 10 times.

What does your bench training, as an example, consist of?

Sets/reps and the weight in relation to your max.

obi604

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

What does your bench training, as an example, consist of?

Sets/reps and the weight in relation to your max.

I do 10, 8, 6, 3, 2, 15 reps.
Increase weight each time and then decrease for last One.

Alf Veedersane

obi604 wrote: »

I do 10, 8, 6, 3, 2, 15 reps.
Increase weight each time and then decrease for last One.

Is the 10, 8, 6, 3, 2 reps with same weight?

Mellor

obi604 wrote: »

I do 10, 8, 6, 3, 2, 15 reps.
Increase weight each time and then decrease for last One.

Are these all done increased TUT?
As in, is the 2 rep set a heavy double, or is it a 2 reps of a lighter weight.

TBH if you are aiming to increase TUT then doing triples and double is completely contrary to that idea. It looks like you are falling into the cracks between two separate approaches?

obi604

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Is the 10, 8, 6, 3, 2 reps with same weight?

No. I increase the weight each time. And decrease for last set.

obi604

Mellor wrote: »

Are these all done increased TUT?
As in, is the 2 rep set a heavy double, or is it a 2 reps of a lighter weight.

TBH if you are aiming to increase TUT then doing triples and double is completely contrary to that idea. It looks like you are falling into the cracks between two separate approaches?

This is nothing to do with TUT. This is what I do right now.

Mellor

obi604 wrote: »

This is nothing to do with TUT. This is what I do right now.

Well that makes more sense.
Do you increase the weights week to week. Or is it the same workout each week.

obi604

Mellor wrote: »

Well that makes more sense.
Do you increase the weights week to week. Or is it the same workout each week.

im only back to it about 6 weeks after about 2 years out, so still getting in to things, so haven't started increasing the weight yet.

Alf Veedersane

If you picked a weight you could do maybe ~13/14 reps with and did 4-5 sets of 10 and then increased, you would possibly be getting more volume than you are with 29 reps across different weights.

Andy_Dublin

You could try out PGE or GPE which do increase TUT. Nick Tumminello would be my go to guy for vids and info. Tried it out recently myself and it definitely brings a different dimension to training...