Before writing to get in some physical activity I swung my 20lb kettlebell for 5 minutes straight.
At the start I was tossing it from hand to hand spinning it in the air (not flips like in juggling), but as time progressed the tosses got less lively.
Soon the transitions from hand to hand became less frequent.
My glutes started getting pumped, and I could feel the insertion between my obliques and lower back.
Near the end I started mixing in squat style swings after having done only hinge style swings prior.
Finally the timer buzzed, and I swung an extra 10 seconds to even out the number of swings with each hand.
I was drenched in sweat, had a decent glute pump, my heart rate was up, and I was feeling euphoric.
About an hour later my glutes mildly spasmed while standing.
Overall it had been great, and I decided to write on time under tension again.
Most people spend very little time actually moving weights. Sets and reps just don’t lend themselves to lots of time under load unless you’re doing sets of 50-100 reps (or more).
I challenge you to pick an exercise, it doesn’t need to be a hard one, and set a timer for 5 minutes and go.
I know you’re thinking that 5 minutes is nothing,so go ahead, do it.
You’ll quickly discover it’s not when you’re actually working the entire time.
Depending on your patience you may expect the 5 minutes to be up in as little as one minute.
Certain exercises will make this one set hellish. A decently loaded leg press for example is one (I can push hard on the leg press).
Some will make it damn near impossible like holding a good low horse stance.
I’d suggest pushups, Hindu squats, or light kettlebell swings to start with. The swings and Hindu squats you can definitely finish, but the pushups will likely hit total failure before the time’s up.
Make the 5 minutes and don’t rest (Unless you’ve hit failure).
Give it a go. You’ll find you respect certain abilities far more once you have.
-J