Just curl a pen or your cup of coffee. Yeah right…, nothing special happens.
Now curl your chair with both arms. Wow! Watch that biceps pipes popping out! Why do your biceps stand out that much when you are lifting something heavy? Because tension is the mechanism by which your muscle generates force.
TENSION equals FORCE
The tenser your muscles are, the more strength you could display. This is Simple. So you can say that strength training can be summed up as the skill to create more tension. The Skill of muscle tension is the key element to strength training.
High tension training demands these 4 elements:
- controlled exercise performance
- maximizing muscular tension regardless of the weights used
- Minimizing fatigue
- heavy-weights of 85-90% of your 1 Repetition Maximum (RM)
Let’s get into these points and try to figure out how you can perform more tension:
Controlled Exercise Performance
In the 1920s a scientist called Hill found out that force/tension is dropping rapidly as velocity increases. This means, that the faster you move the less tension/strength you can display. Muscles can not give all they have when the contract fast. This has mechanical and also neurological reasons.
So, a slow and controlled movement is required to display tension/strength. Slow and controlled sports like weightlifting, wrestling, and so on are the ones with the most strength and muscle tone.
Maximising Tension Regardless of the Weights
Tensioning your muscles as if you were trying to break an olympian record teaches you how to maximize real tension…even without weights. Static tensioning of the muscles is how martial arts masters train for harder strikes and stronger kicks.
Minimizing Fatique
Fatigue and tension are two different animals. When your mind, muscle, and cardio system are tired you cannot produce much force. Try some Pull-Ups after a five-ten Kilometer run! An effective strength training protocol minimizes fatigue by reducing the number of reps and increasing the rest periods.
Heavy Weights of 85-90% of Your 1 Repetition Maximum (RM)
Australian exercise physiologists observed that “…the contraction is in fact caused by an electrochemical signal which the muscle receives in response to the load…”. This means that the heavier the load is you have to handle the more tension you can create and the stronger you become. There is no way around training with heavy iron.
Summary: Learn to tension harder and you will become stronger!
But is it really the only way to create tension…?
Tension is not exclusively created by heavy-weights. It’s like the Australian exercise physiologists observed it: “…the contraction is in fact caused by an electrochemical signal which the muscle receives…”.
This is also happening when EMS/EMA devices create tension in the muscles. But this time tension is created by external electrical impulses from an EMS/EMA device, like the Visionbody.
So with an EMS/EMA device, you can also create tension inside the muscle: But way safer and healthier.
With the Visionbody PowerSuit, you can do simple bodyweight exercises but create the same tension as with heavy-weights!
And simple exercises means safer and more controlled execution and performance. And in cases of fatigue EMs is a great training booster because you do not have to train until failure to built up. Our unique middle frequencies are the only frequencies that are not only superficial. They go deep into the muscle tissue and squeeze them and therefore creating great tension.
So if you feel uncomfortable with lifting heavy weights then the solution is simple:
Go to Visionbody.com and order your Suit now! We are still in Black Friday mood and like to give you
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Let’s get Strong. With EMS/EMA!
Johannes, Head of Training & Education