How much does each contribute for building muscle: Time Under Tension; lifting heavy;

[BULK_CITY]

Recently read the MI40 workout and it has me thinking.

I've been doing DC for a while and it's great.

-strict form on everything

is it better to have a 2 sec neg and get more reps with heavy weight?

or a 4-5 sec neg and get less reps with heavy weight?

I've always done about 2-3 sec neg cause any more than that and my reps/weight goes down quite a bit.

Thoughts?

 

[Calpoly]

Ive had great success with the time under tension approach. However, about 1 week out of the month Ill go super heavy to shock the muscle

 

[jp2007]

I find 2-3 second negatives, with weight I struggle with for about 8 reps works best with me

 

[BigJB]

timing the negative isn't as important as simply being in control of the weight on the negative as well as not using momentum to assist in completing the rep.

 

[maldorf]

timing the negative isn't as important as simply being in control of the weight on the negative as well as not using momentum to assist in completing the rep.

Exactly, and the key to me is making sure that you never lock out the joint and take the stress off the muscles in order to keep constant tension on the muscle. So in a squat you would never come up all the way, leave that last 10% or so of the movement out and dont lock out the knees. You can still do the reps fast if its under control and you dont ever let your muscles rest by locking out. Now I do think if you want to push yourself its good to first do the set in this manner, but then after you hit failure you can lock out your knees in the squat and take about a 5-10 sec breather to rest and eek out a couple of more reps.

 

[ajdos]

Someone bumped this old poll, but thats a tough question- I use BOTH so I cant say one is absolutely better than the other but I have been liking the longer negatives.
Also the slow positives 2-4 seconds those are even tougher IMHO.

 

[tri-terror]

It's not as cut and dried as this... 2 sec vs 4 sec or "heavy" weight. What's important is to CONTROL the weight, and have progression over time in the weight AND the reps you do with said weight.

 

[mewalrus]

My assumptions based on nothing.

I'd say it more important to vary it and never stay in any one mode for to long. Maxing out reps explosively would be best over all, and to throw the gimmicks in to work it harder.

The best way to do long negatives would be with an assist on the positive and keep the weight high. I think you could really destroy the muscle that way but I always train alone so haven't done it except by cheating.

 

[AshopRep]

It's not as cut and dried as this... 2 sec vs 4 sec or "heavy" weight. What's important is to CONTROL the weight, and have progression over time in the weight AND the reps you do with said weight.

I still remember you posting that video where you did heavy ass dumbells using slow and controlled movement.

 

[tri-terror]

I still remember you posting that video where you did heavy ass dumbells using slow and controlled movement.

Haha it wasn't that bad you gotta make fun was it?

 

[Transformer]

I only do extreme tut ie 4 seconds when im nursing an injury and have to go lighter because its the only way to get the maximum intensity out of the exercise
If u ask me heavy weigh with corrrct controlled form and thats it
2 3 4 5 or 6 seconds on a negarive is irrelevant
Controlled form slower positive
Expsolivr negative with the correct range of motion
Simple

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[jamesjenkins]

I think there might not be a "better" per se. I read years ago that it takes the nervous system 12 weeks to fully adopt to a new movement. Assuming that's true, you'd benefit from alternating them on training cycles. But then again that's just my assumption.