Bodybuilding plateaus :Time under tension and the benefits of Negatives and Pause Reps
By the tee-rex and mikal
A lot of times people hit plateaus in their bodybuilding journey and it can be one of the most frustrating things in life...hitting the iron and not seeing results 😿😿😿
In this post I'll like to discuss time under tension,benefits of negatives and pause reps. First off , like I said in this post , progression is key to building muscle ,( it doesn't really matter if you use free weights or your bodyweight ) your muscles won't grow unless you take them to a whole new level of hell( lol ! ).
One of the most spectacular things about human beings is the ability to adapt...every living cell, tissue in your body has the ability to adapt to certain conditions.
What I'm trying to point out is the more you push your muscles to breaking point the more it adapts to that condition and when it is fully adapted to that condition its no more a challenge to it (muscles).
Let's take this instance from my experience: when I first started out lifting , pushups weren't a problem for me at the time , pull-ups though, I hated with a burning passion (unknowing to me that it will one day become my best exercise...). My reason for hating pullups was the fact that I wasn't able to complete just one decent pull up, I was always struggling to get my chest to the bar...
⭐NOTE at this point ,one pull up was a serious challenge for me, but as time went on I began to make progress , slow; but it happened and now my latest pull up statistics is 30 pull ups in a minute(60 seconds) my earlier posts prove that I am making progress.
Now I want you to judge,
if I still do one pull up till now will it get me anywhere knowing very well I have broken past that barrier? The answer is a big NO! My muscles have grown and so has my strength, I have adapted in so many ways the average guy will think am out of exercises to challenge myself... but that's not the case and it'll probably never be!
✴INCREASED TIME UNDER TENSION🕠
I've done a vast research (with help from good friends too)on breaking and busting past muscle building plateaus (for people who are into calisthenics or free weights or BOTH). So...
Have you ever heard of "TIME UNDER TENSION"? well if you've not , it's basically the time under which you perform or complete one rep of an exercise (full range).
Usually, one rep shouldn't go on for more than 2 seconds (depending on the difficulty of the exercise)...now those two seconds points to the time under tension of the incorporated muscles in one rep (it will later affect the whole set as well).
💡Now let's assume that John has always lifted weights the way the average guy does...30kg dumbells, 8 reps and 4 sets with one set taking him a little over 5 seconds to complete; adaptation kicks in he now finds it easy to move the dumbells through space and he's ready for a new challenge.
The truth is he doesn't have to add any more weight to his 30kg dumbells , he could could just extend the time under tension of each set to over 20 seconds ( 3-4 seconds per rep)...think of it as lifting weights in slow motion❗Two seconds to lift the weight (concentric) another two seconds to lower it (eccentric) and vice versa.
✴NEGATIVES AND PAUSE REPS
Pause reps force you to face your challenge with strength and strength alone.
Pausing at the bottom of the repetition allows the elastic energy to dissipate while simultaneously breaking your momentum. There is no stored energy to take advantage of, no kinetic energy to roll with. When you pause, all you’ve got is your muscles to produce the force you need. No tricks, no cheats, just pure strength.
Negative repetition ( negative rep ) is the repetition of a technique in weight lifting in which the lifter performs the eccentric phase of a lift. Instead of pressing the weight up slowly, in proper form, a spotter generally aids in the concentric, or lifting, portion of the repetition while the lifter slowly performs the eccentric phase for 3–6 seconds.
Negative reps are used to improve both muscular strength and power in subjects (I mean you!😂), this is commonly known as hypertrophy training.
The good thing about all the steps outlined in this post is they are all related in a sense... check this out:
💡Please incorporate these steps into your workouts with discretion ,you have to be comfortable with the standard version of the exercise you're trying to tweak...very comfortable (as in easy ) before progressing to the next challenge or you could risk injuring yourself.
You decide you want yo challenge yourself with PAUSE-REPS, instead of pausing at any time in the movement, how about NEGATIVES. Which will result in NEGATIVE PAUSE-REPS which will also take its toll on the time taken to perform a set, pointing to INCREASED TIME UNDER TENSION. You see; like killing three birds with just one stone.
While all these tips might take you past that plateau , its only 200% possible if you pay attention to your nutrition. If you have any questions ,leave a comment.
For online personal training and mentoring programs send me an email ; help.teerex@gmail.com
 |
| "Beasts aren't born they're made...in the gym" |
A lot of times people hit plateaus in their bodybuilding journey and it can be one of the most frustrating things in life...hitting the iron and not seeing results 😿😿😿
In this post I'll like to discuss time under tension,benefits of negatives and pause reps. First off , like I said in this post , progression is key to building muscle ,( it doesn't really matter if you use free weights or your bodyweight ) your muscles won't grow unless you take them to a whole new level of hell( lol ! ).
One of the most spectacular things about human beings is the ability to adapt...every living cell, tissue in your body has the ability to adapt to certain conditions.
What I'm trying to point out is the more you push your muscles to breaking point the more it adapts to that condition and when it is fully adapted to that condition its no more a challenge to it (muscles).
Let's take this instance from my experience: when I first started out lifting , pushups weren't a problem for me at the time , pull-ups though, I hated with a burning passion (unknowing to me that it will one day become my best exercise...). My reason for hating pullups was the fact that I wasn't able to complete just one decent pull up, I was always struggling to get my chest to the bar...
⭐NOTE at this point ,one pull up was a serious challenge for me, but as time went on I began to make progress , slow; but it happened and now my latest pull up statistics is 30 pull ups in a minute(60 seconds) my earlier posts prove that I am making progress.
 |
| Dorian Yates flexing his biceps😍😍😍 |
Now I want you to judge,
if I still do one pull up till now will it get me anywhere knowing very well I have broken past that barrier? The answer is a big NO! My muscles have grown and so has my strength, I have adapted in so many ways the average guy will think am out of exercises to challenge myself... but that's not the case and it'll probably never be!
✴INCREASED TIME UNDER TENSION🕠
I've done a vast research (with help from good friends too)on breaking and busting past muscle building plateaus (for people who are into calisthenics or free weights or BOTH). So...
Have you ever heard of "TIME UNDER TENSION"? well if you've not , it's basically the time under which you perform or complete one rep of an exercise (full range).
Usually, one rep shouldn't go on for more than 2 seconds (depending on the difficulty of the exercise)...now those two seconds points to the time under tension of the incorporated muscles in one rep (it will later affect the whole set as well).
💡Now let's assume that John has always lifted weights the way the average guy does...30kg dumbells, 8 reps and 4 sets with one set taking him a little over 5 seconds to complete; adaptation kicks in he now finds it easy to move the dumbells through space and he's ready for a new challenge.
The truth is he doesn't have to add any more weight to his 30kg dumbells , he could could just extend the time under tension of each set to over 20 seconds ( 3-4 seconds per rep)...think of it as lifting weights in slow motion❗Two seconds to lift the weight (concentric) another two seconds to lower it (eccentric) and vice versa.
📎At some point, you might not even be at a bodybuilding plateau and all you need is more protein; I recommend using these protein supplements
 |
| Tweaking compound exercises with Negatives and Pause reps will help build insane strength |
✴NEGATIVES AND PAUSE REPS
Pause reps force you to face your challenge with strength and strength alone.
Pausing at the bottom of the repetition allows the elastic energy to dissipate while simultaneously breaking your momentum. There is no stored energy to take advantage of, no kinetic energy to roll with. When you pause, all you’ve got is your muscles to produce the force you need. No tricks, no cheats, just pure strength.
Negative repetition ( negative rep ) is the repetition of a technique in weight lifting in which the lifter performs the eccentric phase of a lift. Instead of pressing the weight up slowly, in proper form, a spotter generally aids in the concentric, or lifting, portion of the repetition while the lifter slowly performs the eccentric phase for 3–6 seconds.
Negative reps are used to improve both muscular strength and power in subjects (I mean you!😂), this is commonly known as hypertrophy training.
The good thing about all the steps outlined in this post is they are all related in a sense... check this out:
💡Please incorporate these steps into your workouts with discretion ,you have to be comfortable with the standard version of the exercise you're trying to tweak...very comfortable (as in easy ) before progressing to the next challenge or you could risk injuring yourself.
You decide you want yo challenge yourself with PAUSE-REPS, instead of pausing at any time in the movement, how about NEGATIVES. Which will result in NEGATIVE PAUSE-REPS which will also take its toll on the time taken to perform a set, pointing to INCREASED TIME UNDER TENSION. You see; like killing three birds with just one stone.
While all these tips might take you past that plateau , its only 200% possible if you pay attention to your nutrition. If you have any questions ,leave a comment.
For online personal training and mentoring programs send me an email ; help.teerex@gmail.com
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