What is "Time Under Peak Tension"

trump

New Member
Sorry if this has been asked before, I couldnt find the answer via the Forum Search and a google only gets me to TUT but nothing specifically about TUPT.
The exact question and answer is probably hidden deep within a big thread here, but anyways....

Ok, so good old Time Under Tension, TUT, is straightforward.
If you do 10 reps and each rep takes 3 seconds, your TUT is 30 seconds (10x3).

So whats Time Under Peak Tension, TUPT?

Is it only the time spent doing Reps that are at (or very close) to full muscle fiber activation?
 
When doing free weight dynamic lifting the tension generated by the muscle varies with the joint angle. Tension is not constant during a rep because the leverage of the skeleton changes during said rep. Tension may also change during a rep due to intentional effort. I am sure Dan Moore could elaborate on other possible reasons that tension varies. The bottom line is that it does. Peak tension refers to the highest tension reached if you were looking at a graph of tension versus time. Time Under Peak Tension (TUPT) would be the amount of time the muscle experiences this peak tension during a rep, a set, or a series of sets. Let's say you are doing curls with a 135 lb barbell. The peak tension reached may be 141 lbs. The duration of this tension is one-tenth of a second. So for one rep the TUPT is 0.10 seconds. For 10 reps the TUPT is 1 second. For 3 sets of 10 reps the TUPT is 3 seconds.
 
Very well described QP!
I dont know if you can explain it much better than that without making an essay.
 
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