Does "Time Under Tension" Actually Matter?
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Time under tension isn't something you need to worry about, and intentionally prolonging your sets with higher reps and slower negatives doesn't build more muscle. If it did, why do we consistently see that both low reps and high reps can produce the same amount of growth when effort is matched? It's because what actually drives growth is the tension on the last few hard reps close to failure, not how much time you spent on the easier reps leading up to it. And since you're much stronger on the eccentric compared to the concentric, the lowering phase will never be the limiting factor during a normal set, and so dragging it out for "more time under tension" like a lot of people recommend doesn't increase the stimulus either. Longer sets produce more "pump" and "burn" which is why people assume they're more effective, but those are simply byproducts of training and not independent drivers of growth. You should still perform your sets under control using a deliberate negative to reduce jo
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