If your goal is to build muscle, then you should be aiming to maximise time under tension throughout the range of any given exercise, more specifically time under significant tension, within your active range.
By pausing in positions that are mechanically advantageous to the body, when the joints are stacked (e.g the top of a chest press) there will be little, if any tension on the muscles you are trying to work and unnecessary joint stress.
You don’t need to pause at the top of each rep.
If you’re pausing like this for each rep that you perform, how much progress do you imagine you’re missing out on?
Pausing can have it’s place when it comes to extending a set, but it has no place, when you’re doing it on every single rep, of every single exercise. If you have to pause during each rep of a set, then the weight is likely too heavy for you and you’re essentially turning every set into a rest-pause set.
Think about this during your next training session, strive to achieve continuous tension, don’t pause and enjoy the benefits that come with leaving your comfort zone behind.
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