Ik hecht meer waarde aan intensiteit dan aan TUT. 1 HIT rep van een paar seconde met max. intensiteit spreekt de spier meer aan dan een set van 80sec bezig ben met een veel te lage intensiteit.
Verders vind ik TUT eigenlijk een vaag begrip.
Als je stelt dat je een bepaalde TUT nodig heb,
- maakt het dan uit onder welke intensiteit?
- of de eccentrische fase net zolang belast word als de concentrische fase?
- telt eigenlijk iedere fase wel net zo zwaar mee(als ik het gewicht explosief omhoog brengt, daar 50sec vasthoud en dan weer laat zaken heb ik een TUT van 51sec maar de belasting is heel anders dan waneer ik 10 reps doe met een 2-1-2-1 tempo)
Ik vind dit stukje van Charles Staley wel to the point
Before I go into my thoughts on TUT, I want to point out something
that you may be unaware of: YOU'RE OVERTHINKING THINGS. You really
are, and the reason I know is I've been there myself. I've endlessly
studied every training nuance you can imagine— post-tetanic
facilitation, rate coding, upward versus downward motor unit
recruitment, shunt versus spurt muscles, believe me, I can go on and
on. When everyone else was talking about TUT, I was carefully
analyzing INTRA-REP speed variations.
But the funny thing is, when I looked at very successful athletes and
coaches, none of them seemed to worry about any of this stuff! They
just trained their ass off and left the tech stuff to the
science-geeks.
Now I AM being just a bit facetious. It never hurts to know your
stuff. But some of us (and that means YOU) tend to overthink things a
bit. Sure, learn everything you can, but none of it means a think if
you don't work hard in the gym on a consistent basis.
Now, with that being said, let's explore this concept of "Time Under
Tnesion:"
For those of you who aren't familiar with this concept, it was first
popularized in North America by a now well-known strength coach in
Muscle Media 2000 magazine about 6 years ago. This author suggests
monitoring the actual time that a muscle is "under tension" during an
exercise by using a clock or stopwatch, and recording this parameter
in the training log via a numerical system first used by Australian
strength coach Ian King. An example of this system might look like
this:
5/2/2
Which indicates that the weight is lowered for 5 seconds, paused for
2, and finally lifted over a duration of 2 seconds.
It was further suggested that an exercise's TUT should be periodically
(perhaps every 3 weeks) varied as a way of respecting the principle of
variation. And, many people began to make renewed progress in their
training when they started to monitor and vary their TUT, and soon the
concept became very popular.
Most people's confusion regarding TUT stems from Poliquin's assertion
that for optimal muscle growth, a muscle should be under tension for
between 40 and 70 seconds on any given set. The problem with this idea
is that when you look around at some of the most muscular athletes in
the World of sport- namely Olympic weightlifters and powerlifters,
you'll find that the average number of reps per set is 2-3, and the
total TUT for any set is around 10-12 seconds. It should also be kept
in mind that the total TUT for the workout may be far more telling
than the TUT for any given set. Therefore, one might rack up only 10
seconds of TUT for each set, but if numerous sets are performed, the
TUT for the workout remains high nevertheless.
Why has the notion of TUT become so popular? I think in large part
because when exercisers began to regulate TUT in their workouts, it
simply made them work harder! In other words, it slowed them down,
which in many instances helps to create better awareness of proper
lifting technique, and eliminates the presence of momentum during the
exercise (momentum isn't necessarily a bad thing incidentally; it's
just that most lifter's don't know how to apply compensatory
acceleration— a subject for a future quick tips).
If you'd like to monitor TUT in your own training, the easiest way is
to buy a small electric metronome at a music store— the kind that can
emit an auditory click every second. This way, you won't need to watch
a clock as you lift to monitor TUT. I think you'll find that slowing
things down can create a new awareness of your lifting technique, and
it certainly can make you work harder. It also tends to improve your
eccentric strength, which can have multiple benefits in terms of
overall strength and muscle growth. Monitoring TUT is also a valid
idea in terms of keeping tabs on exactly what is happening during your
workouts— not just sets, reps, and rest periods, but lifting speed as
well. The more exacting you are in monitoring training parameters, the
better equipped you'll be in knowing exactly what works and what
doesn't.
Now, another thought for you: A rarely discussed aspect of "time under
tension" is intra-rep speed fluctuations. In other words, when you
perform the eccentric phase of a squat, should the speed be constant
throughout the entire range of motion, or could there be advantages to
varying the speed as the weight is lowered?
While many possibilities exist, my "rule of thumb" recommendations are
as follows:
Eccentric speed fluctuations: Using the squat as an example, the lower
you go, the weaker and more vulnerable you are, due to compromised
leverages. Therefore, begin the descent relatively quickly, and begin
to slow down as you near the bottom position. This is done for the
following reasons. First, if the bar speed is relatively slow
throughout the entire eccentric phase, you'll become fatigued which
will impair your ability to lift the weight in a forceful manner.
Second, if the bar speed is great toward the end of the eccentric
phase, it'll require enormous force to reverse the accumulated
momentum of the bar. The solution is found by beginning the descent
relatively fast, and ending it relatively slowly.
Concentric speed fluctuations: It is a waste of energy to try to move
a weight quickly when you are in a position of poor leverage. Using
the deadlift as an example, in the early stages of the concentric
phase, your hips and knees are flexed significantly, which means that
your leverage is poor. Therefore, there is no point in trying to
"explode" the bar from the floor. It is more appropriate to "squeeze"
the weight from the floor. However, once the bar reaches approximately
knee level, the weight can be accelerated because the hips and knees
are more extended, which creates better levers.
Static/dynamic protocols: Another example of intra-rep speed
fluctuations can be seen in the little-used, but highly effective
technique of static/dynamic training. In this method, one might (for
example) begin to curl a barbell, and then stop one-third of the way
up for five seconds, then continue to two-thirds, pausing for an
additional five seconds before completing the concentric portion of
the curl. The same procedure may be used during the eccentric phase of
the exercise.
Another variant of static/dynamic training is to use a prolonged (e.g,
10 seconds) eccentric phase, followed by a similarly prolonged pause,
followed by a small number (3-5) of rapid full-range repetitions. For
example, on the bench press exercise, one could lower the bar for 10
seconds, hold it tightly at chest level for 10 seconds, and then
perform 3 rapid repetitions before terminating the set. The contrast
between the static and dynamic work is a powerful stimulus for the
nervous system, and can be very effective both for plateau-breaking
and for overall strength development.
Static/dynamic training is particularly effective with exercises which
have very short range of motion, such as curls and calf raises, and
also for situations where you wish to strengthen a particular "slice"
of an exercises range of motion.
OK Louis, that's the end of my seminar on TUT! If you'd like to get
more information on these and related concepts & principles, allow me
to suggest a few resources for you:
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