Should You Lift Weights Fast or Slow? The Quick and Dirty Guide

Weightlifting tempo is the pace at which you increase and decrease weights when energy coaching.

It’s additionally typically known as rep tempo, weightlifting pace, or bar pace when referring to barbell workout routines.

Usually, weightlifting tempo is written as a sequence of three digits which describe how lengthy every section of the repetition (or “rep”) lasts. 

For instance, you may see somebody write that you need to use a weightlifting tempo of “1—1—2” when doing barbell curls.

This implies the primary a part of every rep—the concentric, or contraction section, the place you increase the bar—ought to take about 1 second, adopted by a 1-second pause, adopted by a few 1-second eccentric, or lengthening section, as you decrease the load again to the beginning place. (Some folks additionally embrace a fourth digit to point how lengthy you need to pause after finishing every rep, however this degree of element is usually pointless).

Generally you’ll additionally see an “X” used rather than one of many numbers on this sequence. On this case, the “X” means you need to full that a part of the rep as rapidly as explosively as doable whereas utilizing good type. Usually an “X” is barely used for the concentric portion of the rep. 

Abstract: Weightlifting tempo refers to how briskly you increase and decrease a weight throughout a single repetition, and is often expressed as a sequence of three digits, comparable to “1—1—2.”

Whereas it’s true that gradual reps do certainly enhance time underneath stress, it seems that this isn’t essential sufficient to warrant particular consideration. 

The first purpose for that is that the slower you carry out an train with a given weight, the fewer reps you are able to do with it. Relying on how gradual your tempo is, you may get half the reps and even fewer than you’d at a quicker tempo. 

That is essential as a result of the overall reps carried out with a given muscle group over time is a main issue in muscle achieve.

Some folks would say that super-slow coaching compensates for the discount in reps by rising the issue of the reps you do carry out. 

Whereas gradual reps do really feel tougher than regular ones, analysis reveals that they lead to much less work achieved, which reduces the muscle- and strength-building potential of the train.

Learn: Why Time Underneath Pressure is Overrated for Constructing Muscle (And What Issues Extra)

Sluggish-rep coaching has additionally been straight put to the take a look at in a lot of research, which present that it produces inferior outcomes in comparison with regular tempo coaching. As an example:

• A examine performed by scientists on the College of Sydney discovered that folks following conventional “quick” coaching on the bench press gained extra energy than with gradual coaching.
• A examine performed by scientists on the College of Wisconsin discovered that even in untrained folks, a standard coaching tempo resulted in higher energy beneficial properties within the squat.
• A examine performed by scientists on the College of Oklahoma discovered that 4 weeks of conventional resistance coaching was simpler for rising energy than slow-training.

Lastly, a meta-analysis performed by scientists at Lehman School discovered that very slow-rep coaching (>10 seconds) resulted in much less muscle development than reps carried out between 0.5 and eight seconds. 

Now, if you happen to learn the examine, you’ll discover that the researchers discovered that individuals who carried out reps in 0.5 seconds gained the identical quantity of muscle as individuals who carried out reps in Eight seconds. That’s, there was no distinction in muscle achieve when utilizing reps starting from about 1 to eight seconds.

There are just a few causes I nonetheless advocate you go for a quicker tempo, although: 

1. Your units and thus your exercises will typically be shorter.
2. Most individuals discover quicker reps to be much more pleasurable than slower reps.
3. Sooner reps will in all probability enhance your energy greater than slower ones, which is able to possible enhance muscle achieve over time. 

Proof in help of that final level comes from a examine performed by scientists at Pablo de Olavide College, which break up 24 males of their mid 20s into two teams: 

1. A quick rep tempo group that did every rep of bench press as quick as doable.
2. A gradual rep tempo group that did every rep of bench press at about half the pace of the quick rep tempo group.

The nitty-gritty particulars of the examine design aren’t value stepping into, however the lengthy story quick is that they measured the contributors’ bar pace and used this knowledge to make sure they have been all lifting at both a quick or gradual tempo. 

Everybody bench pressed thrice per week with two to 3 relaxation days between every exercise day. In addition they used a type of linear periodization to extend the weights and scale back the reps of their exercises, till they maxed out at about three to 4 units of three to 4 reps after six weeks.

The researchers supervised every exercise, ensured every exercise passed off on the identical time day by day, and even made certain the temperature and humidity within the fitness center have been the identical for every exercise.

The outcome? 

The quick rep tempo group elevated their bench press energy by about 18%, whereas the gradual rep tempo group solely elevated their bench press by 10%. What’s extra, that is regardless of the gradual rep tempo group accumulating about 50% extra time underneath stress than the quick rep tempo group.

The researchers on this examine didn’t measure muscle development, however seeing as getting stronger is the easiest way to realize muscle, it’s honest to say utilizing a quick rep tempo would possible be higher than a gradual one for gaining muscle. 

Learn: Is Getting Stronger Actually the Greatest Strategy to Acquire Muscle?

As a common rule, then, you need to carry weights as quick as doable whereas sustaining good type and management of the load. This often means reducing the load in a gradual, managed manner, after which elevating the load as quick as doable.

What does this appear to be precisely? How will you carry weights “explosively” whereas holding your type in? 

Right here’s what I’m speaking about:

As you possibly can see, Mike is reducing the load in a managed, constant manner (not stress-free his decrease physique and letting the load drop), pausing for a break up second on the backside of the rep, after which squatting the load up a bit quicker than it took him to decrease it. 

Right here’s what this seems to be like with the bench press: 

And right here’s what this seems to be like with the deadlift: 

Most of your reps of most of your workout routines—together with isolation/accent workout routines—ought to comply with this identical sample. 

Particularly, I like to recommend that you just comply with a “1–1–1” rep tempo for all weightlifting workout routines. 

This implies the primary a part of every rep (both the eccentric or concentric section) ought to take about one second, adopted by a one-second (or shorter) pause, adopted by the ultimate a part of the rep, which must also take about one second.

Now, you could have observed that despite the fact that Mike is pushing the weights as quick as he can, they nonetheless aren’t transferring very quick. 

It is because whenever you’re utilizing heavy weights, your reps are all the time going to be pretty gradual in an absolute sense—they’ll in all probability by no means really feel explosive and can often take a minimum of a second to finish. 

That mentioned, you need to nonetheless strive to carry them as rapidly as doable whereas sustaining good type, as analysis reveals that is in all probability going to extend your energy greater than deliberately lifting weights slowly.

Abstract: Lifting weights with a quick tempo is superior to lifting weights with a gradual tempo as a result of this results in a bigger enhance in energy, which in the end results in extra muscle achieve over time. As a common rule, intention for a 1—1—1 weightlifting tempo for your whole workout routines.  

Weightlifting tempo refers to how briskly you increase and decrease a weight throughout a single repetition, and is often expressed as a sequence of three digits, comparable to “1—1—2.”

Though a slower weightlifting tempo will enhance your time underneath stress—the period of time your muscle tissues are contracting throughout your exercises—analysis reveals this doesn’t result in extra energy or muscle achieve over time. 

The rationale for that is that by utilizing a slower weightlifting tempo, you even have to make use of lighter weights. And since getting stronger (utilizing heavier weights) is the easiest way to construct muscle, any potential advantages of elevated time underneath stress are negated by utilizing lighter weights.   

In different phrases, lifting weights with a quick tempo is superior to lifting weights with a gradual tempo as a result of this results in a bigger enhance in energy, which in the end results in extra muscle achieve over time. 

An excellent rule of thumb is to intention for a 1—1—1 weightlifting tempo for your whole workout routines. You need to decrease the load in a managed method, pause for a fraction of a second, after which carry the load as rapidly as doable (which is able to often take a few second). 

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