Triple Tension (Article)

Tension can snap a chain, end a marriage and make a CEO of a troubled company run stark raving mad through the streets. It is almost always presented in a negative light, being blamed for headaches and ulcers, insomnia and even heart attacks. Few forces of nature recieve worse press.

Not all tension is bad though. The same tension that has runied lives has just as surely propelled athletes, business leaders and artists to peak preformance. When understood, tension can be a bodybuilders best friend!

Heres a quick science lesson. Muscles are comprised of fibers, which are made up of myofibris. During a muscle contraction, myofibrils slide against each other to shorten fiders and expand their girth. The stength of the contraction depends on two things: 1)The number of fibers involved and 2)The TENSION within each fiber.

The Wieder Peak Contraction, Continusous Tension and Iso-Tension Training Princicples are three fo the least known, BUT MOST EFFECTIVE tools in a budybuilders arsenal. Now I will try to define these three crucial training tenets and explain how "Good" tension can be applied to increase muscle size, shape and sharpness.
---------------------------------------------WEIDER PEAK CONTRACTION TRAINING PRINCIPLE

Bend your arm from full extention to full contraction. Without you realizing it, your muscle fibers shortened to accomplush this. Now, keep your arm contracted and flex your bicep.

Additonal muscle fibers must shorten in order to form a hard, tense muscle. If you flex long enough, you'll fell a slight pain to let your know just hoe hard these fibers are working.

This is an example of of the Weider Peak Contraction Training Principle. Here the stress is focused on the top position in movements where the mypfibrils are fully shortened.

Not every exercise allows you to place a maximum load on a muscle when its fully contracted. For example, most compound lifts, such as squats, bench press and shoulder presses, do not. On the other hand, most exercises for the latissimus dorsi (pulldowns, rows, chins) do. Other good peak contraction lifts include shoulder laterals, most bicep curls, tricep psuhdowns and kickbacks, calf rasies, leg extentions and curls, pec-deck flyes, cable crossovers, shrugs and upright rows.

At the top position of each such exercise, hold the weight for three to five seconds, flexing the targeted muscle(s). In order to properly focus, its often best to do lifts like dumbbell curls and leg extentions with one limb at a time. You can often attain a maximum flex by also contracting assisting or adjoining muscles (your body often does this involunterily). For example, it may help to squeeze your hand tight and contract your forearm during concentration curls, or to flex your claves at the top of leg extentions.

The Peak Contraction Principle will boost growth and improve hardness. Coupled with proper diet, it can also help to chisel in cuts and shape. This principle is a GREAT Pre-Contest and cutting cycle technique because it places emphasis on fully flexed muscles, thus preparing your physique for the Rigors of posing.
---------------------------------------------CONTINUOUS TENSION TRAINING PRINCIPLE

Again, bend your arm from full extention to full contraction. You shouldnt feel much until the top position, where the natural proclivity is to flex. Now, return your arm to full extention and flex your biceps. Keeping it flexed, slowly bend your arm up to the full contraction position again. Even without a weight you will fell tension in the entire length of the movement as the stress is directed to your biceps. The harder you contract, the harder it will be to raise your arm; it will become a struggle just to lift your empty hand!

This is an example of Wieder Continous Tension Training Principle, which postulates that exercises should be preformed slowly while flexing the targeted muscle throughout. As with peak contraction, assisting or neighboring muscles can also be flexed to help you attain a MAXIMUM contraction in the targeted area.

Iin the cases of biceps-triceps, quads-hamstrings adn abs-spinal erectors, its also benifial to flex the Opposing muscle group during the lift. To see why, tense both your tri's and your bi's and again move your upper arm from straight to bent. You should find that its evem more intense then flexing only your biceps.

Continuos tension is difficult to utilize in compound lifts such as squats and deadlifts, but it can be applied to virtually every other resistance exercise. Its espically effective with isolation movements like tricep pushdowns, leg extentions, concentration curls and ab crunchs.

Flex the targted muscle(s) before the beginnning an exercise and keep that tension throughout. Concentrate on feeling the resistence over every inch of the movement. You will be forced to use the strictest form, stressing areas of a lift (and a muscle) that you may have been neglecting. Note to number-crunchers: You wont be able to use as much weight, BUT you will be focusing that weight on the desired area. Infact, poundages are almost inconsequental, since the resistence depends on as much on how hard you flex as on the wieght itself.

Continuos tension is an excellent method for improving the shape of a bodypart and etching in details. Its favord by dieting bodybuilders before contests, but its valueable to intermediate and advanced trainers all year long.
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ISO-TENSION TRAINING PRINCIPLE

This time, bend your arm halfway and flex your biceps. Hold this for 10 seconds. Now, bend your arm to the fully contracted position and flex your biceps for 10 sec. Finally, raise your fully contracted arm up as if doing a double bicep pose and flex for 10sec. Each position should feel slightly different and, if flexing hard, you should feel a slight pain in your arm.

Repeat the preceding sequence four times and youll have completed a quick biceps routine following the ISO-Tension Training Principle. This tenet was formulated because posing (Prolonged periods of intense flexing) is a strenuous form of exercise by itself. In fact, each major muscle can be trained by holding it in three or four different flexed positions for 10 sec at a time. As you become accustomed to this movement, increase the number of such "sets" in every position and length of time you hold the pose until you can do four sets in four positions for 20sec each.

Iso-Tension improves shape, definition and hardness, and it increases the mind-muscle connection. This, in turn, should improve your regualr weight workouts. Iso-Tension is an excellent technique for comp bodybuilders, as it duplicates the stress of a contest and improves your ability to hold poses for extended periods. Three Time Mr. O Frank Zane, renowned for his shap and hardness, spent entire session holding each compulsory pose for 30 to 60 sec. Zane knew he would go through such an ordeal on stage, and he belived this Iso-Tension work was neccessary for attaining hid best condition.
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Too many trainers put too much emphasis on the need to hoist heavy weights at any cost. Try the techniques outlined here and see for your self that be tensing your muscles at the time of peak position, as well as through an entire lift, an otherwise light weight can suddenly seem VERY heavy. In fact, in the case of the Iso-Tension, you can achieve a stressfull workout without ANY wieghts at all! These techniques are useful supplements to ANY Intermediate or Advanced routine.

Futhermore, a strenuous workout that incorporates these three techniques may help relive mush of the negative stress of the outside world. Sometimes tension is JUST what YOU and YOUR MUSCLES NEED!!!

[MASON]

Good Article

[Oldman]

Really Good Article

[grog]

great article "tension can snap a chain" for some reason reminded me of a friend of mine who trains with chains has anyone ever heard of this? he's got about 10' of the biggest baddest chain you've ever seen almost 5lbs a link he uses u bolts to attach it to the bar as hes benching squating ect. the chain slowly lifts off the ground adding 10, 15 ,20 ,30, ect. lbs to wt# talk about tension. does it work ??he's got almost a 700 lbs bench press.im still trying to find the chains lol.pretty cool huh?if ugot a sticky poit this maybe a possible soulution