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Fadi

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In the light of this thread: Is volume king?, I’m asking, is TUT the new (and important) kid in town as some would have us believe? Yes it’s important but with a condition, and a full understanding of the type of TUT I’m talking about here. Let me be crystal clear from the outset by saying that if this TUT means light and slow to you, then we’re talking about two different sets of TUT, and the slow (with seconds on the clock counting) does not count for very much in my book. Please read on to find out why that is the case.

When it comes to building muscles and gaining strength, the total volume of work is of critical importance. Please note that I did not just say volume, but volume of work. If volume is the sum of all the sets and reps, and the frequency of which these are performed, then work here refers to the intensity, the effort one applies whilst performing those sets and reps.


So, is TUT a primary factor or a secondary factor to both volume and intensity, or where exactly does it fit in in the scheme of things?


What does it all mean? It means that if TUT was to negatively affect your total volume of work, by either forcing you to reduce your workload and/or the amount of load being lifted, then TUT would serve as a detrimental factor in your quest for improvement / progressive overload. To put it differently, should TUT be of concern to you? Yes, but only when it’s not done at the expense of reduced load or volume, i.e. total volume of work. So again, volume of work is still king in my opinion and a primary factor in building muscle and gaining strength.


Some may wish to argue that TUT is crucial and plays a positive part intrinsically speaking. I would disagree with such a stance. Why? Because just as one cannot run the 1500m the way one runs the 100m, similarly, once one consciously goes out of his way to look at the clock and slows his reps down to meet some magical number of seconds during a set, one is forced to reduce the load on the bar and the total amount of work done overall...,resulting in an overall reduction in the magnitude of total work done, and total work done and the effort that is applied during that work is what it’s all about.


So in a nutshell, if TUT adds to your overall volume of work, then hey, bring it on and keep it here. If on the other hand by applying it, your total volume of work is going to suffer, then ditch it.


Be your own boss, and be the critical judge of your own training. Maintain a log and put what I’ve written above to the test. Make a two week comparison between the TUT (with all its seconds counting philosophy on the one hand), and the TUT I’ve written about above, with a focus on the level of overall tension your muscles receive based on the total volume of work done. You be the judge. Thanks for reading.
 
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For performance gains, which is what many weight trainers seek, TUT is completely counterproductive. The only thing that matters for performance training with a barbell is power and increasing the time required for completing a movement is the antithesis of power generation.

I'm a Hatfield disciple and his concept of Compensatory Acceleration is my only doctrine. Even if you choose to do high repetitions, by focusing on acceleration, the maximum number of fibres are recruited and effect on the central nervous system is thought to be more profound.
 
The only thing that matters for performance training with a barbell is power and increasing the time required for completing a movement is the antithesis of power generation.
Gold! Thank you sir.

Even if you choose to do high repetitions, by focusing on acceleration, the maximum number of fibres are recruited and effect on the central nervous system is thought to be more profound.
That's exactly what I used to see down at the AIS with power athletes like sprinters, shot putters, javelin and discuss throwers, high and long jumpers and the like. Whenever I saw them squat or press a barbell overhead, they applied medium weights with high repetitions lifted in an explosive manner. Martial artists/MMA fighters would utilise the same principle. No slowness going on anywhere to be found with these power athletes. TUT? Yes of course. When you add up all the volume of work they had performed, there was plenty of overall TUT, the positively productive type that is.
 
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