time under tension

we live in a world of instant gratification. too lazy to cook? get fast food or have it delivered. dont feel like walking? drive your car 300ft to the store. anything worth while takes time and getting stronger is no exception. there is no shortcut on this journey and the old saying goes “only the strong survive” exists because its true. if you truly want to increase your strength and size you must go through the time under tension journey. this is load bearing work done regularly. volume over an extended period of time. what is volume? volume is the amount of sets of and exercise performed multiplied by the weight used, multiplied by the amount of reps performed with an exercise. for example: if you squat 155lbs x 3sets x 12 reps the total volume =5,580. the total volume must increase in order for the body to be forced to make changes in size and strength. keep in mind the variable that is just as important if not most important during different phases of training is ‘intensity”. intensity refers to the percieved effort that has been put into the exercise. if the intensity is not high the volume will not matter because there must be a hard effort needed for the body to be forced to make changes. lets go a little deeper. lets say you are squatting a weight that is 85% of your 1RM (1 rep Max). this is a challenging weight and will take a large effort. so if you got a 1RM of 300lbs this means you are squatting 255lbs. take 255lbs and perform 3 sets of 5 reps, this is a very high intense exercise and will cause the legs to get stronger from this effort. now put this effort and intensity into a time period of 10 years, this is a lot of time under tension that has produced gains in strength, size, and precision with an exercise. so stick to some basic exercises in the beginning, start light, use 3 to 5 sets per workout and keep your reps between 3 and 10, and you will surely see gains all over your body.