Long earlier than Instagram fitness fashions dominated the scene, legends like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Zane had been building their empires inside the unique mecca—Gold’s Gym. These Mr. Olympia champions didn’t simply train laborious—they educated good. Their workouts had been grueling, their diets had been all enterprise, and each rep was about extra than simply lifting heavy—it was about mastering muscle management and perfecting kind.
“They understood that how you lift is just as important as what you lift,” says Nate Rodgers, licensed private coach at Life Time Lakeshore-Irvine. “They prioritized mind-muscle connection, tempo, and form to fully exhaust the muscle, often leading to better growth than simply chasing heavy weights.”
What Is Time Under Tension?
These days, most lifters are laser-focused on lifting heavy. And whereas chasing a larger one-rep max is a confirmed technique to construct strength, it’s not essentially the most environment friendly path to muscle development. If hypertrophy is your aim, time beneath stress (TUT) issues simply as a lot, if no more.
“Time-under-tension (TUT) refers to how long a muscle is under strain during a set,” Rodgers says. “In the 1970s, bodybuilders used TUT to maximize muscle fiber recruitment and stimulate hypertrophy by controlling tempo and increasing workload without necessarily adding weight.”
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When to Use Time Under Tension
While TUT is a highly effective method for building muscle, it’s not the correct match for each motion. For max-effort compound or Olympic lifts—like cleans, squats, or deadlifts that rely upon explosive energy—slowing issues down can truly work in opposition to you by inflicting pointless fatigue. Not solely that, however as a result of these actions additionally require velocity and drive, slowing them down might even result in harm.
“Compound and isolation movements with smooth, controlled reps work best,” Rodgers provides. “I recommend dumbbell presses, squats, lat pulldowns, and preacher curls. Machines and cables are also great for maintaining tension through the full range of motion.”
How to Perform Time Under Tension
Performing time beneath stress means controlling the tempo of each rep to maintain your muscle mass beneath pressure for longer. Not solely does TUT improve tears in muscle fibers to set off development, nevertheless it additionally forces you to regulate the motion and have interaction the goal muscle extra purposefully.
To assist his purchasers carry out TUT, Rodgers tells them to “Slow down every rep. The aim isn’t simply to maneuver the weight—it’s to really feel the muscle working the entire time, particularly through the decreasing part, to maintain the muscle engaged longer.”
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