The main problem in the past has been with the notion of Good Technique and Bad Technique. It was believed that if you used good technique, then you got results; and if you used bad technique, you didn’t get results. Unfortunately, you ALWAYS get results: both good and bad. So a better understanding would be that you have proper technique and improper technique, and to whichever you use, you adapt.
If your technique was so-so, think of it as 5 out of 10 being proper technique, and 5 out of 10 – improper. You get 50% of the results you want, and another 50% that you don’t want. In exercise science, we call this functional adaptation and dysfunctional adaptation. You want functional muscle, not adaptations which cause you poor posture, limited mobility, aches and pains, and catastrophic injuries. Unfortunately for many fitness approaches, HALF (if not more) of what they’re doing is working against them.
“Time Under Technique” differs from the obsolete notion of “Time Under Tension” because we want quality adaptation, not just random effort. With better technique comes deeper benefits and greater results, so increased time under tension is insufficient. It must be time under technique! Done improperly, it will waste your time, ingrain bad form, or eventually, injure you. This is a stark contrast to “Time Under Tension” which only deals with force. Yes, you can coach proper technique in such a system, but the emphasis is on “moving the weight” quickly and repeatedly, however it must be done.
Think of it this way, most programs only consider the total amount of work that you do, to be the physical work to which you adapt, but that could be your joints, tendons, ligaments, and fascia, not merely your muscles receiving the force of your exercise. Popular programs only use the concept of Time Under Tension, and value the total work that you physiologically experience, so although they target the tension placed upon muscle, it doesn’t sufficiently discriminate proper from improper technique.
TACFIT training uniquely allows you to focus on the kinesiological impact of your exercise; not just the physiological tension, but the bio-mechanical function of your body, and even the psychological capacity of your ability to recover and refine your proper technique.
Even our active recovery periods are not rest-breaks from tension. Recovery is NOT rest. It is a chance to regain or refine access to your technique. The better you recover – the better your technique becomes. And therefore, the better your results and benefit. Choose programs that teach you how to perform the movements with proper technique, and actively train recovery, to be able to perform the exercise as well, or even better, the next round, and the next workout.
Respectfully,
Scott B. Sonnon
Thank you, I greatly appreciate how clearly and simply you deal with key issues as this one. I am a TaijiQuan teacher, we do “soft” exercise but the danger of dysfunctional adaptation is hidden even there!
Marco Venanzi
Thank you, I greatly appreciate how clearly and simply tyou deal with key issues like this!. I am a TaijiQuan teacher, we do “soft training” but the risk of dysfunctional adaptation is hidden even there….
Good technique allows you to do more work and reap better rewards. But there are still benefits to be obtained even if technique is still a work in progress. So long as you don’t hurt yourself, doing is better than not doing. Excessive intensity is probably the culprit the author is really talking about. (Too many reps, too fast, or too much weight.) Time under tension is a way to increase volume without a change in intensity.