As we settle into a routine we tend to forget some of the details involved in what we are doing. For me, at least, that includes weightlifting. Back in my early military days we heard the following mantra ad nauseam. “Complacency kills.” In this case it may kill your progress and results.
When activities become the norm we tend to zip through them. This should never be the case in weight training. Always pay the closest attention to the details of what you are doing. This is an implication of the mind body connection some talk about. This is paying attention to how your body is moving and the weights you are moving.
That is not to say that all movements have to be performed with agonizingly slow movements. Though, that is how I am training at the time of this writing. Some sports specific training is explosive and fast while other types of training must, by necessity, be slow and deliberate. What are the refracts of each? How does one know if they are training at the right tempo? The answers to these two fundamental questions is it depends. It all depends upon your lifting experience and your goals. Let’s clarify that.
First, tempo here refers to the speed of each stroke of the movement you are doing. Whether it is a squat, deadlift, bench, tricep cable push down there are three parts of the movement. From the bottom of the benchpress with the bar touching or nearly touching your chest contracting your muscles to push the weight up to arms length is contracting the muscles, the concentric phase.
Holding the bar just above your chest for a moment or several seconds is the called isometric tension. In this portion your goal is to control the weight so there is no movement of the bar. That does not mean you rest the bar on your chest in benchpress. Rather, you push against the bar enough to keep it just at the surface of your chest. This can be a fast, momentary pause or a prolonged and several second pause.
Eccentric is the portion in which you extend the muscles. In this phase you are significantly stronger than the concentric phase. Consider bent row for a moment. The concentric phase brings the bar up to your torso. The isometric is holding the bar against your body. Now, the eccentric is lowering the weight, extending the muscles used in this movement. In bench this phase is lowering the bar to your chest.
As stated the eccentric phase shows greater strength than the concentric. It is this reason that some lifters will use what are called negatives. These are a lifters attempts to go through the rccentric phase in a slow and controlled motion while their spotter assists in the concentric phase.
During all phases of your lift muscle fibers are being torn. Be it and explosive movement or a controlled movement there are fibers firing. A rapid contraction of muscles will fire the fast twitch muscle fibers. There is also an emergency stretch reflex when contracting out of a stretch position this is the emergency stretch reflex. Its purpose is to prevent tearing of the muscle. This is accomplished by firing more muscle fibers than are needed to complete the movement. Consider decline dumbbell curls. At the bottom of the movement with your arms angled back your biceps are stretched a bit. From a still position at the bottom when you rapidly and deliberately contract your biceps to lift the dumbbell there is a massive number of muscle fibers being used to elevate the weight.
During recovery these extra fibers used translate into more gains for you.
TEMPO
We have touched on fast repetitions with the above. Let’s compare and contrast the differences with fast and slow tempos.
Fats twitch training is generally more sports specific. That is, when I was doing kick boxing I trained with rapid movements. The speed of contraction was the paramount focus. We fight as we train is what the Army always taught.
The slower tempo, for instance a 4 to 6 second concentric, 2 to 6 seconds isometric, and a slow 4 to 6 second eccentric phase puts your muscles under an extended time under tension (TUT), this slow movement and its extended TUT results in a large number of muscles fibers expended. Recovery will result in more fibers being rebuilt by the body. This translates to more gains in mass.
CONCLUSION
Granted, most exercises done in moderate speeds will result in muscle gains. A fast tempo results in specific speed and strength. Slow tempos, the longer TUT brings about more muscle mass.
Can the two be combined in a workout? Absolutely. There is always room for exerting more control over the weights one is moving. As for performance of a lift there are many benefits for size and strength as well as power.
For speed, for instance in Muay Thai, one will want to use fast and explosive movements. This will train for faster muscles and redactions.
Combining the two will build functional strength in lifters as well as add some much sought after size.
For me, I am focusing now on slower reps as I am seeking size. I currently walk at 280 pounds and 6’1” in height. My goal is to hit 300 pounds of body weight. If former Mr Olympia Mike Mentzer is right, the slower movement and increased time under tension will take me over the line. It will add muscular bulk to you, too.
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