How to Increase Muscle Tension For Size and Strength

Everyone knows that lifting weights helps build muscle and strength. There are thousands of programs on the internet detailing what exercises to do, how much weight to use, and how often to use them. However, what makes these programs effective for muscle building? There are many factors involved, but one of the foundational elements of any weightlifting program comes from muscle tension.

There are three main ways to increase muscle tension; lifting heavy weights for low reps, using moderate weight at a slow tempo, or using isometric holds for a set amount of time. Each method has their own benefits that suit an individuals goals, whether it be to get stronger, look better, or both.

Before explaining how to use each of these methods, it’s important to know why muscle tension is important in the first place.

Why Is Muscle Tension Important?

Muscle tension is important because it begins the process of muscle and strength building.

Every muscle in the body is made up of small strands called muscle fibers. These fibers are connected to special nerves called motor nerves that cause muscle fibers to contract in groups. Some motor nerves can make up to 1000 muscle fibers contract at once, allowing the body to move, pick things up, blink, etc. People lift weight in order to challenge these muscle fibers into contracting the hardest that they can. When pushed to their limit, muscle fibers receive microscopic tears that signal the body for repair and growth.

This process is very similar to getting calluses on your fingers from playing the guitar for the first time. The pressure from the guitar strings actually damage the fingertips microscopically, in which the body tries to repair as soon as you’re done practicing. When the fingers are healed, they are much harder than they were before. This is called adaptation, and the same thing happens to muscle after a workout. The muscle fibers were damaged, so the body adapts by not only healing the damage, but by also making those fibers thicker and stronger. Although new muscle fibers may be created, “building muscle” refers more to the thickening of muscle fibers after consistent exercise.

Time Under Tension

Time Under Tension (TUT) refers to how long a muscle stays activated during a rep. More specifically, TUT measures how long you spend in each of the three phases of muscle contraction:

• Concentric: the squeezing and flexing of the target muscle. In a bicep curl, this is where you squeeze the bicep to lift the weight up
• Eccentric: the lengthening and relaxing of the muscle. In the curl example, this is when you slowly lower the weight back down
• Isometric: The squeezing of a muscle without any movement. If you curled the dumbbell, but held it halfway up and paused for a few seconds, that would be an isometric hold (more on this later)

Every exercise utilizes all three phases, and these phases determine the tempo of each rep. Tempo is the measure of how much time is spent on each phase. Tempo is typically written in the following format – Eccentric : Isometric : Concentric. Let’s use a bicep curl as an example. If you spend 2 seconds lifting the weight up, 1 seconds holding it at the top while squeezing the bicep, then 3 seconds to lower the weight down, the tempo would be 2:1:3. Some people also put a fourth number to mean Bottom Isometric – time spent holding the weight at the bottom rather than the top – but it’s more common to only have a three number tempo.

How long should you spend on each phase? That depends on which of the three muscle tension strategies you want to employ. Generally speaking, using heavy weight focuses more on the concentric, slow reps focus on the eccentric, and isometrics focus on (of course) the isometric phase. Each focus has their own benefits and are discussed in more detail below.

Mind Muscle Connection

Mind Muscle connection the ability to feel a target muscle during an exercise. For example, being able to feel your chest burning and squeezing during a bench press. This is essential for improving muscle tension since you cannot maximize tension on a muscle you cannot feel.

Not everyone feels their chest during a bench press. This can happen if the weight/reps are not challenging enough, but it happens more commonly because of bad posture. If someone has bad shoulder posture – their neck and shoulder droop forward in a slouched position all the time – they wont be able to use their chest nearly as much as their arms and shoulders. This is important for those wanting to grow specific muscles such as chest, butt, abs, etc. If you can’t feel the muscle, you probably aren’t working it out. If you’re not working that muscle out, you wont see any change or development.

If you do notice that you don’t feel an exercise in the places you’re suppose to, you may have to step back and correct the overall structure of your body first. The two most common posture disfunctions people experience are upper crossed syndrome and lower crossed syndrome. Addressing these issues require their own protocols.

Technique #1: Using Heavy Weights

Heavy weights increase muscle tension in two ways: by forcing the body to recruit as many as possible during each rep, and by forcing those fibers to contract at maximum power.

It’s important to know that not all muscle fibers in a muscle will contract for every lift. For example, the biceps do not need 100% of their fibers to lift a pencil. They will, however, need as many as possible to curl a 50 pound dumbbell. With that said, you should use as much weight as it takes to do 5 reps of the exercise with good form. Each time you return to this exercise, challenge yourself by adding 5-10lbs for the same 5 reps. Most people can continue adding weight like this for months in a row before plateauing.

The best exercises to use heavy weights are compound exercises; specifically the squat, bench press, deadlift, and overhead press. These are the most scalable exercises in the entire gym, meaning you can progressively add weight week after week with little to no plateau, even after months of adding weight. For example, any beginner can add 50 pounds to their squat in a month, but only 15 pounds to their leg extension machine.

Benefits of Heavy Weightlifting

• Strength: The only way to get strong is to lift heavy. Pushing the body to lift more and more heavy weight is a guaranteed path to increased strength
• Muscle Density: Most people only look buff while they’re working out, but when they leave, their muscles deflate back to normal. Because heavy weightlifting makes the muscle fibers considerably thicker, you’ll keep your muscle definition throughout the day rather than only in the gym
• Athletic Performance: Of the three muscle tension methods, this is the most transferable to sports. Every sport benefits from a strong strength foundation

Example Heavy Weightlifting Workout

Technique #2: Using Slow Repetitions

Slow reps increase muscle tension by forcing muscle fibers to exhaustion by keeping it tense for as long as it can handle.

The concentric phase of lifting is the most beneficial to slowing down since it can handle the most tension of all the lifts. It’s recommended to take at least 4 seconds to lower a weight to maximize eccentric tension. The other two phases can remain at about 2 seconds each, making the complete tempo of each rep 4:2:2. In a bicep curl, this means taking 2 seconds to lift the weight, 2 seconds to hold it in position, then 4 seconds to lower back down with control.

The average person will find this to be extremely slow. Most people have a TUT of about 2-3 seconds per rep, yet slow repetitions call for 8 seconds per rep. Although it might feel agonizingly long at first, the benefits will be seen and felt immediately. If done correctly, the target muscle will start to burn and workout much sooner than using traditional fast reps.

The best exercises for slow reps are isolation exercises – the complete opposite protocol of heavy weights. Isolation (not to be confused with isometric) is any exercise that only has one joint moving. Below is an example list of isometric exercises for various body parts

Benefits of Slow Repetitions

• Mind Muscle Connection: as mentioned before, many people cannot feel their target muscle during an exercise, meaning they are not giving that muscle a complete workout. Slowing down the reps and really focusing on that muscle helps establish that connection, making each workout much more effective for that muscle
• Low Risk of Injury: lifting heavy weights requires precise form during all 5 reps, otherwise you risk injuring yourself. For those who are unsure about their form, slow reps gives a similar muscle tension benefit without the same risk of lifting with bad form

Example Slow Repetition Exercises

Each exercise can be done for 3 sets of 8-12 reps. The tempo is 4:2:2

Chest	Dumbbell Flys
Quads (Thigh)	Leg Extensions
Hamstring	Leg Curls
Glutes	Hip Thrust
Shoulders	Lateral Raises
Biceps	Dumbbell Bicep Curl
Triceps	Skull Crushers
Calves	Calf Raise Machines

Compound lifts can be used in the same 4:2:2 tempo, but it might be difficult to perform at first. Start with the above isolation movements before moving into slow bench press, squat, etc. Also, the above workout can be made into a full body day by following the list as shown.

Technique #3: Using Isometric Holds

Isometric holds increase muscle tension in ways similar to heavy weights and slow reps; they force the muscle to both recruit as many fibers as possible and push them to complete exhaustion.

Both compound and isolation exercises can be turned into isometric exercises. Just stop halfway through the rep and hold for time. For example, on a barbell squat, you can lower yourself halfway down to a hold, or the same thing on a dumbbell fly for the chest.

Benefits of Isometric Holds

• Stability: You can expect big improvements in balance from isometric training, which can carry over to athletic endeavors just like heavy weightlifting
• Full Body Tension: This refers to the ability to squeeze the entire body to maximize strength at a specific end. For example, people who bench press have likely heard of “leg drive” – pressing your legs into the ground as hard as possible throughout the set. The isometric tension created from leg drive actually makes the upper body much stronger and more stable. The same can be said for increasing leg strength on a squat. Squeezing the bar as hard as possible will make the legs stronger

Example Exercises for Isometric Holds

Each exercise can be done for 1-5 sets of 30-60 seconds

Core	Planks
Legs	Dunphy Squat
Back	Pullup Hold (Hold the top of a pullup)
Forearms / Grip	Pullup Hangs (Hold the bottom of a pullup)
Glutes	Crab Walks