When promoting muscular hypertrophy (how to build muscle), is it better to use time under tension training or volume training? Both time under tension and volume training are effective when developing a program for building muscle mass. However, some athletes will thrive more with time under tension or volume training based on a lifter’s experience, goals, and history of injury. In this article, I'll explore time under tension training versus volume training to build muscle. I'll focus on similarities and differences, and I'll share my expert opinion about whether a powerlifter should choose time under tension training or volume training. Short answer: Both forms of hypertrophy training are effective. But keep reading for a more detailed response specifically for powerlifters. What is Muscular Hypertrophy? Why Should Powerlifters Build Muscle? How Do You Build Muscle? So Which is Better? What is Muscular Hypertrophy? Muscular hypertrophy is the process of muscular growth through the exhaustive response of resistance exercise.
During hypertrophy, muscle fibers undergo structural changes that cause them to get larger in diameter. Muscular hypertrophy doesn’t mean you gain more muscle fibers. Instead, you gain more muscle fiber density which makes your muscles become bigger in size. And for those looking for practical tips, we covered 11 of the top hypertrophy programs for powerlifters. But why would a powerlifter want to have more muscle mass? Shouldn’t they just focus on building strength and trying to improve their performance? Well, there are many reasons why a strength athlete, like a powerlifter, might want to increase muscle mass for their performance. We will highlight these reasons and more details below. Note that the team here also discussed whether powerlifting itself builds muscle. Why Should Powerlifters Build Muscle? The idea of building muscle mass should be important to a powerlifter because an increase in muscular mass correlates to an increase in potential strength1.
Now, having more muscle mass doesn’t mean you’ll automatically become stronger. But a bigger muscle has the potential to move bigger weight, so the concept of muscular hypertrophy should be tremendously important for a strength athlete, www.PrimeBoosts.com such as a powerlifter or even strongman athlete. Besides powerlifting success, there are other benefits that come from muscle hypertrophy. Having more muscle tissue is also beneficial for increasing resting metabolic rate2 and reducing the likelihood of injuries3. Both of these are vital to improving your performance training and overall health and wellness. But besides knowing the benefits to building muscle, it’s important to discuss how to build muscle. It’s common knowledge that lifting weights will build muscle. But for those who are more developed athletes, like powerlifters, you need to consider incorporating the concepts of volume training and time under tension training to build more muscle. How Do You Build Muscle? When developing a training program, Prime Boosts Male Enhancement you want to first consider the various principles of strength programming, such as linear periodization4.
Within the linear periodization model, strength training progresses from low intensity to high intensity throughout a complete training cycle. This training cycle for a powerlifter is typically 16 weeks. But for the first 4-6 weeks of a training cycle, you should primarily focus on hypertrophy training. This phase of hypertrophy training is very important as you will begin to build more muscle to influence future strength. Oftentimes, powerlifters overlook how effective hypertrophy training can impact their performance on the platform. In order to have an effective hypertrophy cycle, a powerlifter should consider either time under tension training and volume training for building muscle mass. Time Under Tension (TUT) training is a method that emphasizes controlling the tempo of each repetition to maximize muscle stimulation and growth. In TUT training, the focus is not the number of repetitions, but rather the duration that the muscles are under tension during each repetition. This elevated level of tension causes the muscle to become exhausted, which is the precursor to growth.