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From 3 episodes and 1 video

What is time under tension in weight training?

Answered by Nikkiey Stott and her guests · Updated

The short answer

Time under tension is how long your muscle is working during a set. You increase it by slowing each rep down, especially the lowering portion. Nikkiey explains that taking 45 seconds instead of 30 to finish 12 reps maximizes muscle breakdown, which builds muscle when you follow it with good eating and recovery.

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  1. Nikkiey on time under tension: 12 reps in 45 seconds instead of 30

    Plays from 10:49 · Ep. 267: Why Can't I Feel My Muscles Working When I Lift?

  2. Why slow lowering on a squat can drive more muscle damage and growth

    Plays from 1:21 · Ep. 116: How to Build Muscle After 40: What Actually Works

  3. Tempo work as progressive overload and what 3-0-1-0 means

    Plays from 27:33 · Ep. 97: Progressive Overload for Women: What It Is and How to Do It

  4. A 3-1-0-1 lat pulldown tempo and isometric holds to feel the muscle

    Plays from 19:25 · Ep. 267: Why Can't I Feel My Muscles Working When I Lift?

  5. Nikkiey progresses from a four-second tempo down to one before adding weight

    Plays from 17:40 · Video: 30-Minute Gym Leg Workout for Women Over 40 and Menopause

The full answer

On Ep. 116, Nikkiey uses the barbell squat as the example. As you lower slowly in the negative portion of the lift, you feel the burn. She says that slow lowering can be more effective at inducing muscle damage. The growth itself happens afterward, when you eat and recover well, because muscle is active tissue that gets its energy from food. On Ep. 267, she adds that time under tension is really about rep quality: are your reps fast, sloppy and just going through the motions, or slow, controlled and strong enough that you can feel the muscle working?

You will often see tempo written as four numbers. Nikkiey breaks down two examples:

She also describes isometric holds, like pausing at the 90-degree position of a squat. That adds time under tension to the rep and helps build mind-muscle connection and stability.

  • 3-0-1-0 (Ep. 97): three seconds lowering, no pause at the bottom, one second up, no pause at the top before the next rep.
  • 3-1-0-1 on a lat pulldown (Ep. 267): three seconds lowering, a one-second pause at the bottom, zero seconds up, a one-second pause at the top.

Time under tension is also a progressive overload tool. On Ep. 97, Nikkiey calls tempo work one of her favorite forms of progressive overload and suggests rotating techniques, such as drop sets one week and tempo work on the same exercise the next. In one leg workout video, she shows how she progresses with it: a four-second tempo, then three, then two, then one, before increasing the weight in the fifth week.

If you have been lifting and not seeing the muscle you expected, Nikkiey's point is that the problem may be how the reps are done, not you. Slow down, control the lowering, and give the muscle a reason to change.

From Nikkiey Stott and WarriorBabe's coaching. For education, not medical advice: talk to your doctor about your own health.

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    Nikkiey's starting point is 60 to 90 seconds between sets for compound lifts like squats, deadlifts and presses, and about 45 to 60 seconds for isolation moves like curls. On heavier compound work she'll go up to two minutes. Above all, time it, because four or five minutes of scrolling breaks up the training effect.

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    Yes. Nikkiey's order is form first, then connection to the muscle, then weight. If you can't feel the target muscle working, adding weight doesn't make it stronger; other muscles take over and your joints pay for it. Drop the weight until you feel the right muscle, then build from there.

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    What is progressive overload?

    Progressive overload is gradually increasing the stress you place on your muscles over time so they keep having a reason to adapt and grow. Nikkiey explains you do it by adding small amounts of weight, reps, sets, or changing tempo and rest, while sticking with the same exercises long enough to measure progress.

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