Time under tension is measured in terms of the amount of time it takes to complete a set of an exercise. It can also be measured in terms of how much actual lifting time occurs during a workout when you exclude rest time from your workout.
It’s obvious that some lifters prefer brief workouts and only spend a half hour to forty five minutes in the gym. Others spend up to two hours in the gym to complete a workout. They may even say they did a two hour workout, but if they did, you have to wonder how much of the time was actually spent lifting, and how much was spent resting between sets. It’s not uncommon for an entire bench press workout consisting of several sets to add up to sixty to ninety seconds of actual lifting.
A Lot of Work in a Short Amount of Time
Vince Gironda was a famous bodybuilding trainer who advocated short workouts. He wanted his students in and out of the gym in forty five minutes or less. Some of his routines were to be done in as little as fifteen minutes. On the surface, this may sound wimpy and insufficient, but Vince saw no point in people sitting around during their workouts. The time spent in the gym consisted of a lot of exercise and only a little rest. He actually wanted his students to do a substantial amount of work, but he wanted them to do it in a short amount of time.
Jay Cutler’s Time Under Tension
You will often hear instructions in regard to how fast you should lift and lower the weight for an exercise. A very common suggestion for rep speed is to take one second to lift the weight, and two seconds to lower the weight, but if you look at the best lifters and bodybuilders, how long does each rep actually take? Of course it varies from lifter to lifter, but we are going to look at some examples of great lifters and bodybuilders to see how much time under tension is actually occurring during a set or a series of sets of the bench press. We will start with Jay Cutler benching 405 pounds for twelve reps. You’ll see that his lifting form is outstanding for using such an immense weight for twelve reps.
Jay Cutler
12 Reps = 20 seconds
It takes Jay 20 seconds to complete twelve reps which is 20 seconds of time under tension. An average rep takes a little over a second and half to perform.
Next we will look at several sets by Eric Spoto.
A set by set break down of Eric Spoto’s time under tension for each set is as follows:
First set for 20 reps with 135 pounds takes 13 seconds
Second set for 12 reps with 225 pounds takes 10 seconds
Third set for 10 reps with 315 pounds takes 9 seconds
Fourth sets for 10 reps with 405 pounds takes 10 seconds
Fifth set for 10 reps with 495 pounds takes 10 seconds
Sixth set for 3 reps with 585 pounds takes 7 seconds
Seventh set for 1 rep with 635 pounds takes 3 seconds
Eighth set for 1 rep with 675 pounds takes 3 seconds
Ninth set for 1 reps with 705 pounds takes 4 seconds.
68 reps across 9 sets = 69 Seconds!
If you look closely at each set listed above, you will notice that many of Eric’s reps take only a second or less to perform. It’s not until he is using extremely heavy weights that his reps start to slow down.
Let’s take a look at a set where Eric pushes for max reps with 500 pounds:
17 Reps = 20 seconds
The first 14 reps are done in 12 seconds; a little less than one second each.
The last 3 reps are done in 8 seconds or two and a half to three seconds each
Amazing strength, power, and rep speed for 500 pounds.
Arnold Schwarzenegger
The next lifter that we will evaluate is none other than Arnold Schwarzenegger. Take a look at Arnold doing a set of 12 reps when benching:
It takes Arnold 20 seconds to do 12 reps on this set.
His first nine reps take 12 seconds; a little over one second per rep, and his last three reps take 8 second’s which is close to three seconds per rep.
Arnold Compared to Jay
When we compare Jay Cutler with Arnold as two bodybuilders who are doing 12 reps for a set, you will notice that Jay went a little slower when lowering the weight, and a little faster when lifting the weight. Arnold also grinds more on his last three reps than Jay, and Arnold’s last three reps account for a substantial amount of his time under tension.
Another look at Arnold benching early in his career.
In this second video of Arnold benching, he gets 8 reps in 20 seconds which averages out to two and a half seconds per rep.
What The Evidence Indicates
We can learn from these examples that time under tension may provide benefit for building muscle size, but it doesn’t seem to be necessary to incorporate a lot of time under tension to get strong. Eric Spoto is monstrously strong and in spite of utilizing a substantial amount of training volume (68 reps), his time under tension for nine sets is barely over a minute. It appears that the main triggers for building strength are the use of heavy weight and fast or explosive reps. Notice however that as a powerlifter, Spoto does lower the weight slowly on his first rep of every set, and he always pauses the bar on his chest before doing the last rep of each set. The pause is something that must be done for as long as required by a judge in an official powerlifting meet, so there is value in replicating a slow negative followed by a pause on the chest when training as a powerlifter.
Bodybuilders are more likely than powerlifters to incorporate a significant amount of time under tension into their workouts. Bodybuilders still tend to do basic exercises different than isolation exercises. They use more power and rep speed for exercises such as bench press, squats, deadlifts, and rowing, but often use slower reps and a pause at the bottom and top of isolation exercises. They do this to feel a stretch at the bottom of a lift, and a strong muscle contraction at the top.
If your primary purpose is to lift weights to gain strength, the amount of time under tension isn’t nearly as important as making sure to do some heavy and explosive lifting. Time under tension may help to build muscle size, but if your main purpose it to gain strength, you would emphasize time under tension during a hypertrophy phase of training. This would need to be followed by heavier and more explosive lifting at some point to maximize strength gains. If you want to see some examples of bodybuilding methods that rely heavily upon time under tension, you can refer to the following videos. Best of training to you.
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