Your Missing Link to More Muscle Growth

Unfortunately many people who want to grow new muscle will go to their local magazine seller and page through one of the many muscle or bodybuilding magazines.  Inevitably they will find an article with photos of pro bodybuilders and fitness athletes that promises to be the golden ticket to gaining large amounts of muscle mass fast.  However if you look through the article you will probably find boldly printed text which points to a new and improved supplement that you should use to promote muscle growth.  But are these articles giving you the information that you seek or are they trying to sell you a product?

The fact of the matter is that muscle growth is very difficult.  It takes a precise diet and training program that is adhered to at all costs.  Most bodybuilders are involved with their bodies all day long.  Sticking to a diet that has you eating every two hours, measuring every gram of protein, and keeping your fat low is essential.  But what if I told you that the real reason you are not seeing muscle growth maybe caused by the way you are performing your exercises?

Most any resistance exercise program will help you to grow more muscle.  It’s just how the body works.  But what if I told you that it may not be the exercises or program you are using but the way you are performing those exercises?  Would you switch things up or continue to be left in the dark and fail to reach your goals?

In the rest of this article I am going to explain to you the process your muscles go through in order to grow.  I am n

 

ot going to focus on diets or specific training programs, but instead focus on the way you are performing the exercises in your current program.  You see most people think they are training hard.  They will walk out of the gym feeling as though they just “killed it” in the gym and are on their way to massive arms, chest, legs, back, and shoulders.  But the truth is that most, I’d bet to say 80-90% of all people who work out with the goals of gaining more muscle growth are not training nearly as hard or intense as they need to.

One key to muscle growth is the amount of time a muscle is under tension.  When a muscle is placed under tension it causes microscopic tears that the body repairs in turn building more muscle.  When you combine high tension exercises with enough protein, calories, and rest you have created a perfect storm for muscle growth.

So how does time under tension (TUT) work?  The first thing you need to do is to realize that you are not necessarily counting reps but your focus on how much time each rep takes to complete.  A good gauge is to perform each rep in no less than 6 seconds.  The concentric movement (positive movement) should take you at least 3 seconds.  Likewise the eccentric (negative movement) should also take you no less than 3 seconds to complete.   Another thing that is very important is to perform each set to muscle failure.  So there is no need to reach for 8 or 10 repetitions, instead reach for a minimum of 6 seconds per set until failure.

What is the science behind ‘Time Under Tension’ training?  As we discussed before tension causes microscopic tears or injury to muscle tissue.  This causes your muscles to draw in more amino acids which cause more muscle growth.  These high intensity workouts put anabolic hormones, such as growth hormone, insulin, and testosterone into over drive which causes your muscle to build new protein.  The only way to force muscles to grow is to overload them because they generally resist stress.

Your body lays down these new proteins which in turn grows larger muscles which are harder to stress. You see your body reacts to the stress you put upon it.  If you are demanding your body to push more weight it responds by building more muscle to handle it.

Time Under Tension training is not a new concept.  The concept has been around for as long as scientists have been studying the effects of exercise on the body.  The problem is that this concept has been overshadowed by marketing companies whose goal is to sell you products and not necessarily give you sound training advice.

As with any training program you must be willing to change your mindset.  If you have a strong type A personality then you may find making this change very difficult.  Don’t let your attitude derail your success.  Fitness athletes and bodybuilders need to be ever knowledge seeking.  You must be open to new techniques and science.

The reality is that too many people think that creating the body they want or becoming healthier is just about going into a gym and lifting weights.  Their mindset is that all you have to do is exercise.  But this cannot be further from the truth.  There must be a concerted effort to balance your training and eating to match your training.  If any of these two factors change then the other must change as well.  Remember “nothing changes if nothing changes.”