When you’re training, what exactly helps to build muscle and burn fat?
The answer? Time under tension. If you want to see real progress in your physique and strength level, then you need to understand this concept.
What is Time Under Tension?
It’s exactly what it probably sounds like: The moments you spend with your muscles engaged, resisting a force. When you squat, press, deadlift, you’re spending time under tension.
Time under tension is one of the biggest factors in muscle growth. This is because it’s this tension that causes those micro-tears in our muscle tissue, which ultimately lead to growth. It stands to reason, then, that if you want to see better results, you can increase the time you spend under tension to do so.
Doing this is an effective way to not only kick your training up a notch but also trigger bigger results in less time. Here’s how Annie Thorisdottir does it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAIUjFenafq/
She increases the time she spends under tension by slowing down the movement. This is called tempo training, and you can apply it to just about anything. Even if you’re training with no equipment, you can add an element of tempo to it. For example:
- Air squat: Lower for 5 seconds, pause at the bottom for 2 seconds, stand up, repeat
- Push-ups: Lower for 2 seconds, push back up, repeat
- Sit-ups: Raise at your normal speed, lower for a count of 3, repeat
Tempo training is often written like this:
52×1
Here’s what this means, using squatting as an example:
- 5 seconds down
- 2-second pause at the bottom
- Stand
- Hold 1 second (take a breath) before the next rep
Tempo training is a very simple but effective way to get more out of your workout in less time. Give it a try!
Main image: Annie Thorisdottir/Instagram
