Optimal Protein Intake: How Much Protein Do You Really Need? Just be prepared to eat a lot of food and get tons of sleep – this type of training requires you to prioritize recovery highly. So far, I have used this type of training to target 3 lacking muscle groups: I emphasized the upper chest and triceps by doing diamond push ups and my biceps with close grip chin ups. This type of workout is great to increase the time under tension however it should only be done for 3 weeks MAXIMUM since you are going beyond failure (adding negatives after your slow chin ups). If you apply time under tension to other exercises, you may want to experiment with more or less repetitions and different progressions. Recently, a reader asked me to write an article about “how fast” I perform my repetitions when I train. 2: Increase time-under-tension on each rep until you can do 15-20 reps with full control on your first set. I like calisthenics because we have compound effect in terms of muscle groups (no isolation). I really appreciate how you react to your readers’ comments (in this case mine)! On your final set you should go beyond failure by adding negative chin ups once you reach failure on regular chin ups. Your email address will not be published. To do this, take about 50-60 % of your maximum repetitions – in this case that would be 8 chin ups. Skinny-Fat Success Story: They Didn't Think I Could Get A Summer Body, But I Did! Once you have this number, add a few seconds so you’re doing about 6 seconds instead. This is great for growth IF you have already built a solid strength base. Required fields are marked *, Copyright © 2013-2020 SKINNY-FAT TRANSFORMATION, Oskar Faarkrog, All rights reserved. Have you had succes in your training by increasing time under tension or was it a waste of time? At this point, you should have trained for at least 2-3 weeks, and I recommend you to stop and return to your regular training routine. Here’s the way I would progress in calisthenics: 1: Increase reps until you get to about 20. But there is a lot of failure in that because I need more strength to perform these advanced exercises. Therefore, I recommend that you only do it 2-3 weeks at a time to bring up lacking muscle groups. Whereas I was thinking, along with chin ups, will include pull ups and inclined pull ups with the same ‘time under tension’ strategy, and move till 20 reps on all (forming a superset) with 30 secs of rest between each exercise and 2-3 mins rest between each set. As you can see, this example was for chin ups. How to Build A V-Taper When Your Starting Proportions Are Terrible? But after a point I got confused as I stopped gaining much muscles and have no idea whatsoever on how to get more lean muscles. I would be obliged if you could post a reply to this. Also, I would never do this type of training in a caloric deficit.”. First of all, I will refer to the tempo of repetitions as Time Under Tension since that’s usually the term used for this purpose. I have started calisthenics only 2 months back and I DO NOT do free weights at all. I promised him to get this done, so here it is. So in a nut shell, back to square one. However, on occasion I implement slow negatives to increase time under tension and thereby place additional stress on lacking muscle groups. Just remember that progressing on this type of training is very demanding on you, both from a physical but also a mental point of view. Currently I can do 13 chinups at max. So my first question – In what sequence among the three tecniques mentioned above should I increase my difficulty (not only for back or chest, but for all the parts), so as to move on to the advanced exercises? Time under tension (TUT) refers to the amount of time a muscle is held under tension or strain during an exercise set. I sent out an email the 2nd september to all existing subscribers, but just send me your email through the contact page on the website and I’ll personally send you the guide. Let’s assume that you can max out 15 chin ups with a regular tempo on your repetitions. Time under tension is basically how long time you spend on a repetition. This article is only useful for those of you that already have a good strength base and want to bring up a lacking muscle group(s) by increasing the intensity of your training. Your body will require a lot of food and sleep and you will dread just thinking about the next training session, because of the high intensity used. BTW: I can’t receive your PDF as I have already signed up for the newsletter. During your next workout, you should try to perform 8 chin ups on each set with 4 second negatives. To give you an idea of how I applied time under tension to my close grip chin up training, read the excerpt from my PDF-Guide How to Build a Powerful Back: If you are at the level where you can easily do 12-15 chin ups you can consider to do one of the following workouts that I have used with great success…, During this workout you perform 3 sets of chin ups 3 times a week. Your email address will not be published. Loved this article, I have been really confused on how to increase the level of difficulty in my regime. By increasing it, you increase the intensity of your training and thereby place additional stress on the muscles. Thanks for the info. Do You Suffer From Low Testosterone Symptoms? Also experiment with thick bars during this phase. Oskar, For working out on back, according to your article, I do not need to do any other exercise apart from chin ups. Note: Throughout this article I used the chin up as an example; however the concept can be applied to any exercise. Once you have a solid strength base, you are ready to increase the intensity of your training to bring up lacking muscle groups. So your first chin up workout could look similar to this: Set 3: 5 repetitions, 4 second negatives + 2 negatives after failure. Thanks for the article Oscar. Whereas I was thinking, along with chin ups, will include pull ups and inclined pull ups with the same ‘time under tension’ strategy, and move till 20 reps on all (forming a superset) with 30 secs of rest between each exercise and 2-3 mins rest between each set. During TUT workouts, you lengthen each phase of … Instead of trying to increase weight and/or repetitions, you increase the time your muscles are under tension (hence the name). Wow…that’s some great idea. I used similar progressions on both exercises, however I performed more repetitions on the diamond push ups since it’s an easier exercise for me. How to Build the Beach Muscles with Diamond Push Ups, How to Get Muscular with Calisthenics: 6 Proven Strategies to Accelerate Your Gains, My Experience with Overtraining for 10 Months (the results may surprise you). I read your “how to create illusion of wide shoulders”, and found out the three ways so as to increase the difficulty level – adding weights, time under tension and think bars (for chin ups). Build up your strength until you can perform 3 sets of 8 repetitions with 8 second negatives. 3: Increase difficulty of exercises (pull ups to muscle ups, diamond push ups to handstand push ups) AND/OR Add weight to the basic exercises. Let us know in the comments section. Why You Shouldn't Do Starting Strength As A Beginner [2020]. The goal here is to perform each repetition VERY slowly to increase the time under tension. As you can see in my PDF-Guide, I recommend you to get strong enough to perform 12-15 chin ups BEFORE you play around with time under tension. They work the same muscles so it will be very hard to do 3 sets with 30 sec rest between with 20 reps with 15 kg. Do one variation each workout. What do you suggest, is this any good, or should I focus only on chin ups (I know chin ups alone can give enormous back)? :). Serge Nubret Pump Training: No Need to Lift Heavy to Gain Muscle, 68 Days of Massive Upper Body Muscle Gains, Jay Campbell On Optimizing Testosterone Levels and Reducing Gynecomastia, 12 Training and Diet Lessons for Skinny-Fat Guys, The 3 Most Important Exercises for a Skinny-Fat Guy, increase the time your muscles are under tension. In your first workout, aim for about 3-4 seconds on the negative part of the lift.