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Specifically, you should be counting the seconds in your mind as you are performing the rep. So, in order to maximize the effective time under tension, rather than counting your individual reps, you should count the time it takes to perform each rep. When you are constantly shocking your body with time under tension, your body will adapt a lot faster. Muscles grow under muscle tension, so it makes sense to maximize the muscle tension. It also increases your time under tension. Squeezing at the top of the rep enhances the mind-muscle connection. Slowing down the reps makes you work a lot harder and places more emphasis on the working muscle. Tempo, especially as it relates to the negative part of the rep when you are lifting heavy, is crucial to maximum muscle stimulation.
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Tempo refers to the speed with which you perform your repetitions.
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The total amount of time that our muscles spend under tension plays a key role in achieving optimal muscle building results. So, what gives here? Is it time to ditch the traditional rep based sets system in favor of timed sets, or is TUT not worth the time of day? Let’s investigate. Once that time has elapsed you discontinue your set regardless of how many reps you have performed. So, instead of aiming for 8 reps in a given set, you instead aim for a total time under tension of, say, 60 seconds. Time under Tension (TUT) challenged what we’ve been doing in the gym since the days of Eugene Sandow by daring to suggest that counting reps was actually counterproductive – what we really needed to be doing was counting the total length of time a set lasted rather than worrying about any specific number of reps performed. It’s become the default training system because no-one knew there was an alternative. That, in itself, of course, doesn’t automatically make reps and sets the best way to train. Whether it’s 5 x 5 for pure strength gains, 3 sets of 8-12 for hypertrophy or a single set of a hundred for that massive pump, the rep/set equation is the building block of any training program.