This evening I began to try a "new" kind of workout. All this week I am going to be going "light". The concept of heavy days/ light days is as old school as it gets, but I’m employing a "new" twist to the old standard. I’ve recently been reading about "time under tension" and it’s benefits- especially for natural bodybuilders. For those uninitiated, time under tension amounts to the length of time of each repetition. Where normally, one would move the weight up explosively and lower it more slowly (1-2 seconds), with time under tension workouts, one does both the concentric and the eccentric parts of the lift slowly (3-5 seconds). Thereby increasing the time under tension the muscles experience. And the other key here is to choose weights which allow you to stop short of complete failure on all of your sets. The goal is to fully flush the muscles full of blood, not do the kind of damage usually associated with training to failure.
So tonight I did calves and chest. Yes, in that order. Calves are my weakest body part so I have begun prioritizing them. I performed the same exercises as I usually do for this day, but with substantially less weight and really dragging out the reps. The routine consists of the following:
seated calf raise- 4 sets of 12- 15, supersetted with standing calf raises- 4 sets of 12- 15.
Incline machine press (remember, most of my exercises are performed on my Powertech leverage gym)- 5 sets of 15- 10.
Close grip flat machine press- 4 sets of 15-10.
Flat dumbbell flyes- 4 sets of 15-10.
My first impression of the first workout of this kind is as follows: I really achieved a full pump of the target muscles. I mean the skin bursting kind of pump. The slow speed of the reps allows me to get my head deep inside the muscle as it’s working. Much more so then when I’m explosively chucking the weights around. I do love moving the big poundages, but this just "feels" powerful. I anticipate a whole new level of soreness in the days to come.
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