When it comes to building muscle, most people immediately think of lifting heavy weights or sticking to traditional compound movements. However, the world of fitness is vast, and there are several underappreciated methods that can help you build muscle effectively. Whether you’re a seasoned gym-goer or just starting out, exploring these lesser-known strategies can push your muscle gains to new heights.
While squats, deadlifts, and bench presses are the foundations of strength training, they aren’t the only pathways to hypertrophy. Muscle growth depends on principles like progressive overload, muscle tension, and recovery, and there are multiple ways to manipulate these principles. Today, we’ll dive into three underrated yet highly effective muscle-building techniques that could change your training game.
1. Time Under Tension (TUT)
What is Time Under Tension?
- Time Under Tension (TUT) refers to the amount of time your muscles are under strain during an exercise.
- Instead of rushing through your reps, TUT focuses on slowing down the movements to extend the time your muscle is working.
- It’s a technique that enhances the mechanical stress on muscle fibres, triggering hypertrophy.
How It Works:
- When muscles are subjected to prolonged stress, they break down more muscle fibres, which leads to greater repair and, ultimately, growth.
- By slowing down both the concentric (lifting) and eccentric (lowering) phases of each rep, TUT increases the duration for which your muscles work.
- Studies have shown that the eccentric part of a movement contributes significantly to muscle growth due to the way it elongates muscle fibres.
Why It’s Underrated:
- Many people focus on lifting heavier weights or completing a set number of reps quickly, which can reduce the potential benefits of TUT.
- TUT is ideal for muscle building because it increases the metabolic stress on your muscles, a crucial factor in hypertrophy.
How to Incorporate TUT:
- Try slowing down your reps, taking 3-5 seconds for each phase of the movement.
- Add it to isolation exercises like bicep curls, leg extensions, or chest flyes to maximise muscle tension.
- Aim for a total TUT of 40-70 seconds per set for optimal muscle growth.
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2. Isometric Training
What is Isometric Training?
- Isometric exercises involve holding a muscle in a static contraction without moving the joint.
- Unlike typical strength training exercises, isometrics do not rely on movement but rather on holding a position under stress.
How It Works:
- When you perform an isometric exercise, your muscle fibres maintain tension over time, which leads to muscle recruitment and fatigue.
- By holding a position (e.g., a plank or wall sit), you engage stabiliser muscles that often don’t get activated with dynamic exercises.
- This form of training can increase tendon strength and improve overall muscular endurance, which indirectly supports muscle hypertrophy.
Why It’s Underrated:
- Isometric training is often overlooked because it doesn’t look as ‘exciting’ as lifting heavy or dynamic movements.
- However, studies show that static contractions build strength and muscle mass effectively by increasing neuromuscular efficiency.
How to Incorporate Isometric Training:
- Include exercises like planks, wall sits, or static lunges into your routine.
- For isometric holds, aim to sustain each hold for 30-60 seconds.
- You can also add isometric holds to the end of dynamic exercises. For instance, after completing a set of squats, hold the bottom position for 10-20 seconds to maximise tension.
3. Intra-Set Stretching
What is Intra-Set Stretching?
- Intra-set stretching is the practice of holding a muscle in a stretched position between reps or sets of an exercise.
- This technique is especially effective at triggering muscle growth because it places your muscles under additional stress during the stretch, amplifying tension and promoting greater muscle damage and repair.
How It Works:
- Stretching your muscles under load increases their capacity to grow by enhancing muscle fibre elongation.
- A study on bodybuilders demonstrated that intra-set stretching significantly improved muscle mass in trained individuals.
- The stretch places mechanical tension on the muscles and helps to create micro-tears, which your body repairs, leading to increased muscle size and strength.
Why It’s Underrated:
- Stretching is often seen as a cool-down activity or a way to improve flexibility, not muscle growth.
- Yet intra-set stretching leverages tension in a novel way, combining the benefits of muscle stretching and strength training simultaneously.
How to Incorporate Intra-Set Stretching:
- Perform a heavy set of an exercise, and after the last rep, hold the muscle in a stretched position for 30 seconds.
- For example, after a set of dumbbell flyes, hold the dumbbells in the bottom (stretched) position for up to 30 seconds.
- This method works particularly well with chest flyes, preacher curls, and leg press exercises.
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Conclusion
Building muscle is more than just lifting heavy weights or chasing the latest workout fad. Time Under Tension, Isometric Training, and Intra-Set Stretching are three underrated techniques that can boost your gains and diversify your workouts. Each of these methods helps increase muscle tension, enhance metabolic stress, and ultimately lead to greater hypertrophy. By incorporating these techniques into your fitness routine, you’ll not only break through plateaus but also achieve more balanced and sustainable muscle growth.
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Key Takeaways Table
| Muscle-Building Technique | How It Works | Key Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Time Under Tension (TUT) | Slowing down reps to increase time muscles are under tension | Maximises metabolic stress and hypertrophy |
| Isometric Training | Holding static positions under tension | Enhances neuromuscular efficiency and tendon strength |
| Intra-Set Stretching | Stretching muscles under load between reps or sets | Increases muscle fibre damage for enhanced growth |
Bibliography
- Roig, M., O’Brien, K., Kirk, G., Murray, R., McKinnon, P., Shadgan, B., and Reid, W.D. (2009). The effects of eccentric versus concentric resistance training on muscle strength and mass in healthy adults: a systematic review with meta-analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 43(8), 556-568.
- Hedayatpour, N. and Falla, D. (2015). Physiological and neural adaptations to eccentric exercise: Mechanisms and considerations for training. BioMed Research International
- Schoenfeld, B.J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), pp.2857-2872.
- Lum, D. and Barbosa, T. (2019). The Effects of Isometric Strength Training on Strength and Dynamic Performance: A Review. Journal of Human Kinetics, 68, 45-53.
- Oranchuk, D.J., Storey, A.G., Nelson, A.R. and Cronin, J.B. (2019). Isometric training and long-term adaptations: Effects of muscle length, intensity, and intent: A systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 29(4), pp.484-503.
- Pedrosa, G.F., Costa, R.A., Esteves, G., and de França, C. (2021). Effects of intra-set muscle stretching on muscle hypertrophy and strength in trained men. Journal of Human Kinetics, 77, pp.185-193.
image sources
- EZ Barbell biceps curl: unsplash
