“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”
Ready to get into the best shape of your life? Get free weekly workouts and no-nonsense training insights delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here and let the gains begin.
HOW MUCH DOES speed matter in strength training? If you venture out to the wild west of the Internet, everyone has an opinion. Some people swear that every single one of your movements should be slow and controlled, while others insist you should ramp it up and finish as quickly as possible. Either way, this becomes a question of tempo.
Tempo refers to how quickly you perform an exercise. If you ask Mike Israetel, the sports scientist, competitive bodybuilder, and fitness creator behind the Renaissance Periodization YouTube channel, tempo training can be an effective tool in some instances—but it isn’t meant to be used for all exercises.
Dr. Mike joins MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. in the latest Strong Talk episode to discuss the best way to go about tempo in your training when the goal is muscle growth. Also, why there’s still merit in speeding up.
The first matter to settle is if there’s one specific tempo that will result in max muscle growth. For a long time, expert consensus heald that a slower tempo would result in more gains. According to recent research, that might not be the case—and Israetel agrees. He specifically advises avoiding any excessively slow tempo. “If you’re taking longer than five seconds on the concentric and longer than six seconds on the eccentric, or five seconds that could make the weight so light that it’s no longer stimulative,” explains Israetel.
He also notes the best time to use a slower tempo is when you’re learning a new technique or if you’re having trouble activating the right muscles, especially when performing the eccentric portion of the movement. Plus, it lowers the risk of injury when you’re still learning form. “If you go slower, especially on the way down, you radically reduce your injury risk from really low to super duper low,” says Israetel. “And you pay no cost as far as results.”
This is the reason why you’ll see a lot of trainers push slower tempos on to their clients, notes Samuel. “The best way to learn technique on most strength moves is going to be slower,” he says. However, that doesn’t mean you have to go slow forever.
Once you’ve established that mind-muscle connection, Israetel says you can quicken the movement without sacrificing gains. “Half a second on the concentric and half on the eccentric is absolutely going to give you muscle growth wise, undifferentiable results from a slower, controlled pace.”
Depending on your goals and experience level, your tempo might look different from the guy next to you on the squat rack—and that’s okay. But for general guidance, Israetel has a suggestion: “For most regular people working out trying to get in better shape, slow and controlled on the way down, fast and accelerating on the way up is awesome.”
Want more deep-dive fitness wisdom from Samuel and other celebs and experts who’ve been on our Strong Talk podcast? Check out all our episodes here.
You Might Also Like
-
The Best Hair Growth Shampoos for Men to Buy Now
-
25 Vegetables That Are Surprising Sources of Protein