Constant tension exercises can build size and strength despite using relatively light weights| Stimulate More Muscle Growth

T NATION | Stimulate More Muscle Growth



However, they also found that performing sets without blocking
blood flow, but using a 303 tempo and never allowing the muscles to
relax during the set (always flexing as hard as possible during every
inch of every rep) with 50-60% of the maximum performed to failure,
led to oxygen levels of 23-24%. Lactate, hGH, and IGF-1 levels were
also the same as with kaatsu training.



The moral of the story is
that constant tension exercises can build size and strength despite
using relatively light weights and even if muscle damage is fairly
low. However, if the muscle is allowed to relax during the set,
oxygen and blood will flow into the muscle and you won't reach
optimal benefits.



So, we could say that muscle growth can be stimulated by:

1. Heavy lifting (4-6 reps), which promotes a high rate of mechanical damage/protein degradation.

2.
Relatively high reps (up to 12-15 for the upper body and 15-20 for
the lower body), which promote a high mechanical degradation due to
the combination of moderate time under tension and intramuscular
tension magnitude.

3. Constant tension sets. To do
these properly, you must flex the target muscle hard during every
inch of every rep. You can never allow the muscle to relax. This
means no rest between reps either. This method is best kept for
isolation exercises.

You could take advantage of all three methods by designing your program according to this template:

Exercise 1: Heavy lift (4-6 reps) using a basic, multi-joint exercise

Exercise 2: Moderate rep movement (8-10) using another multi-joint exercise

Exercise 3: High rep movement (12-15) using a secondary exercise

Exercise 4: Constant tension movement (303 tempo, 50-60% of maximum, 8-12 reps) using an isolation exercise

A chest workout might look something like this:

A. Decline bench press

4-5 x 4-6 reps
90-120 seconds of rest

B. Incline dumbbell press

3 x 8-10 reps
75 seconds of rest

C. Cable crossover or lying crossover

3 x 12-15 reps
60 seconds of rest

D. Squeeze press (pressing the dumbbells together as you simultaneously lift them)

3 x 8-12 using a 303 tempo
45 seconds of rest