Lifting for Longevity

Mac Peterson
Nov 8 · 2 min read

It all started back in June of this year: I woke up one morning feeling like I’d slept on a bag of rocks. Throughout the next week, the back pain wouldn’t stop. All of the reckless behavior of my childhood — namely, hucking myself off jumps while skiing every weekend — had finally compounded, and I now felt 10 years older than I was, at 25…

This, and an incessant desire to keep putting hundreds of pounds on my back at the gym (against my chiropractor’s wishes, might I add), caused me to re-evaluate the way I work out.


That’s when I discovered “Time under Tension”

The common style of weightlifting tells you to continue adding more weight each set, and repeating the same set schema week-to-week. Eight reps per set, with three sets seems to be the most popular schema.

What I learned is that by holding a moderate amount of weight, and moving it reallllllly slowwww, you can achieve the same amount of stress on your muscles. The extra amount of time that you can hold the weight is going to cause an incredible amount of lactic acid buildup. This is what most people refer to as “Time under Tension (TUT)” lifting.

What you’ll want to aim for with TUT is ~10 reps, stretched out over a period of 40-60 seconds. In doing this, your joints will thank you. You will be putting a LOT less stress on them than you would with traditional weightlifting. This means being able to workout for years to come AND minimizing back pain. Combine this with a rigorous stretching routine and yoga a few times a week, and you’ll feel better than most of your peers in a handful of years.


Mind-Muscle Connection

By lifting really slowly, you also engage your mind more. I’ve found that I get into the zone better this way, and can better target which muscle fibers to train. By being in sync with your body, you can feel the stretch of these fibers and more effectively train them.

Not to mention, it’s also proven that you can push greater physical limits by being in “the zone” — and the zone is often a by-product of regulating your thoughts and simply trying to focus.

In my next article, I’ll talk more about this state and some ways to increase the rate at which you enter the zone, so stay tuned!

Mac Peterson

Written by

Biohacking, Health, and Lifestyle Writer. Upgrading My Quality of Life Through Changes to Mind, Body, and Soul.

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