[dropcap]H[/dropcap]ow many of you actually think about the muscle you are actually trying to work when weight training? Or do you just move a weight from A to B?
What if I told you that the latter would make for really slow progress! I have seen it time and time over, most guys think the bigger the load the better they will get. Unless you are training for a strength sport, this is definitely not the best approach when looking to change your body composition and shape.
Time under tension (TUT) is a hugely overlooked training variable when designing a weights training program, as is creating tension in the muscle before and during an exercise. When training for hypertrophy (muscle growth), your sets should be anywhere from 40-70 seconds. Most of you probably don’t do sets longer than 25 seconds; this is certainly not ideal for those of you looking to add some lean mass. Which should be all of you, ESPECIALLY you folks that are looking for fat loss. The more lean tissue we have, the more calories you will be burning on a daily basis = greater fat loss.
To demonstrate the difference between A to B lifting, creating intent and TUT, here is a video of Impact’s physio, Liam George doing 110kg squats.
That looks relatively hard, certainly not maxed out but tough enough you would say, yes? Now watch the video below where I coach Liam with a load of 50KG, 60% LESS load then before….
Can you see how much more Liam is working by creating tension in his muscles and slowing down the movement? Liam’s legs began to shake at rep 4. THIS is the difference between simply moving a weight from A to B and really FOCUSSING on the muscle you are trying to use.
Take home points
- Reduce the load and slow down your exercises
- Think about the muscles you are trying to target, if you can’t feel them, chances are you aren’t working them as efficiently as you could be
- Squeeze the muscles before you start your set and don’t stop until the end of each set
Enjoy the burn and let me know how you get on!!
RG
