What ever exercise im doing, is it better or effective to do it slowly? for instance, when doing a chest press or bicep curl, going up slow and coming down slow.

What ever exercise im doing, is it better or effective to do it slowly? for instance, when doing a chest press or bicep curl, going up slow and coming down slow.

The answer is complicated. It depends a lot on what you want the exercise to do for you. And it depends on what sort of energy demands the exercise puts on you.

For example, if you are doing a barbell snatch, slow is not so good. So if barbell snatches make sense for your program? Do them quick.

If you are doing quadrupeds for your core? Or stomach vacuums? Then really fast is probably not going to make sense.

If you are squatting a barbell? That depends. If you are Valeri Borzov doing as many in ten seconds as possible, then fast is where it is at. If you are doing some Arthur Jones inspired program? Fast is probably the wrong answer. Most exercises are like this one - where fast and slow can make sense; and you have to know why you are doing the exercise to figure out whether you need to go fast or slow.

If you wonder whether you are better off fast or slow? There is often no reason not to try both and see what happens.

What ever exercise im doing, is it better or effective to do it slowly? for instance, when doing a chest press or bicep curl, going up slow and coming down slow.

When you slow down in an exercise, lets say 3 sec up and 3 sec down in a curl. First the slow controlled movement decreases jerking of the weight, less chance for injury. The slow movement increases the time under load, you are taking 6 seconds rather than 2 sec the average time usually taken - 3 times as long. This makes the exercise harder, not easier, - results You work the muscle more to build strength due to increased intensity.

So if you are trying to demonstrate how much you can lift or how many reps you can perform in the shortest time use a fast cadence.

But I suggest you use a cadence that will allow you to complete your reps in a 40-90 sec time frame. If you are using a 8-12 rep range for muscle growth with that 3/3 cadence, you would perform your set in 48-72 seconds. Try it, feel it. Ask yourself, what gives me a workout?

Remember always use the heaviest weight you can for the reps/sets in your planned workout.:tucool: :bb:

First thing, I would recomend taking what I say with a grain of salt.

ALWAYS do the lowing part of an exercise slowly. Letting weights just fall to the bottom of the motion and trying to stop them from swinging is a good way to hurt yourself. So in a bicep curl lower the weight slowly, in a chest press lower the weight slowly to your chest etc.

At the bottom of the movement STOP the weight completely. Dont "bounce" the weight. Think of it as a stop sign with a cop parked there watching you.... no rolling stops here, you gotta make a COMPLETE stop.

Now heres where my "knowledge" gets shady.
The way I heard was moving the weight up fast primarily recruits fast twitch muscle fiber, while lifting slowly recruits more slow twitch fibers. Maybe someone knows for sure. I like to mix up fast with slow reps, thinking im helping my body recruit more muscle fibers :tucool:. I dont know if it actually does, but it makes me feel better so I do.

But definatly slow on the way down and no bouncing.


Chris.

I was taught to go down slowly and explode up as fast as you can on the movements where it makes sense(not snatches, etc). It seems to work well for me.

I wrote an article specifically on tempo. It's shorter so I'll just post it here ... remember this is (c) Golden Summit Inc. and if you wish to republish it, please contact me for specifics on the requirements (they can be found at my website).

Dance to the Tempo
by Jeremy Likness

There are a million ways to train, and a million ways to alter your training. Many people become overwhelmed when presented with the myriad of "systems" that claim to be better than the rest. In reality, my experience is that the most successful program is the one you haven't tried yet! One great way to add variety to your training is to understand and use the concept of tempo.



What Is Tempo?
Tempo as a concept has been around since the inception of bodybuilding. Some athletes like to explode the weight upwards at blinding speeds and drop them just as fast. Other athletes insist that they do slow, controlled movements. Many successful bodybuilders vary their tempo throughout the training cycle.

Ian King, an Australian strength coach, did not invent tempo, but he popularized the system of writing tempo. Charles Poliquin, a Canadian strength coach, is also credited with bringing this concept to mainstream. Tempo simply refers to the rate at which you move the weights. If you are not paying attention to tempo when you train, you may be missing out! Tempo is written with 3 and possibly 4 numbers.

The system looks like this:

123 or 1234

The First Number:
The first number is for the negative or eccentric phase - in other words, when you are lowering the weight or when you are moving in a direction opposite to the muscle contraction. For a squat and a bench press, this would mean lowering the weight. For a cable row, this would mean returning the plates to the stack.

The Second Number:
The second number is the pause after the first phase is complete - for example, in the bench press, a pause as the weight is held stationary just above the chest.

The Third Number:
The third number refers to the concentric or positive phase - the contraction. For a bench press, this would be driving the bar upwards. A number of 1 here typically means, "explode" - in other words, you may do it faster than 1 second.

The Fourth Number:
The fourth number is usually left out, but if present, refers to the pause at the top of the movement.

In our example of 1234, you would do this on a bench press:
Take 1 second to lower the bar to your chest
Pause for 2 seconds with the bar held just above your chest
Take 3 seconds to drive the bar upwards, controlling it and even moving more slowly than usual to take the full 3 seconds
Pause for 4 seconds at the top, with your arms just shy of lockout
That would be one rep, and that rep would have taken 10 seconds. If your training program called for 3 sets of 12 reps, that would mean you would spend 3 x 12 x 10 = 360 seconds or 6 minutes moving weight. Add to that your rest time, and you can estimate the length of your workouts!
What Can Tempo Do For You?
Now let's explore what tempo can do for us! Tempo affects many variables of training. The first, and possibly the most significant, is time under tension. Tension is what forces the muscle to contract and perform work. It is tension that fatigues the muscle and tension that triggers the response to training - a combination of strength (neural) adaptation, and/or mass (hypertrophy). So tension is a key factor to manipulate, and one of the ways to manipulate time under tension is tempo.

One popular diet book recommends shouting one phrase as you lift the weight, and another as you lower the weight. This enforces a specific tempo - probably something like 301 - 3 seconds to lower the weight, no pause, explode up. This is important. A pyramid of reps for this example training-program contains 60 reps, so each muscle spends 240 seconds or about 4 minutes under tension. Let's say you were training 3 sets of 12 reps at the same tempo. This would translate to 36 x 4 = 144 seconds under tension, or about 2 1/2 minutes. This would be almost half the tension that the pyramid exercise provides. Is this bad? Not necessarily - it depends on the workload. If you were lifting a heavier weight, then the tension would be less but the workload may be comparable or even greater. As you can see, there are many factors to consider.

Tempo explains why doing the traditional 3 sets of 12 can fatigue the muscle as much as doing a "super heavy" lift with 2 sets of 4. If I do 3 sets of 12 at a certain weight, most likely I can handle a 211 tempo - 4 seconds per rep, so we are talking 2 1/2 minutes under tension. When I go extremely heavy, for 2 sets of 4, I still control the bar down - 2 seconds, but I try to explode up immediately. It can take me a full 4 seconds to complete the rep and push the bar up, because the weight is so heavy (high intensity)! So now I'm taking a 204 tempo, or 6 seconds per rep. 2 x 4 = 8 x 6 = 48 seconds under tension. Even though I perform 1/4 of the reps, I'm only at about 1/3 of the time under tension - and at a much heavier weight.

Tempo doesn't just affect time under tension. You can manipulate tempo for other reasons as well. For example, it is well known that the negative or lowering phase of a lift causes the most micro trauma/damage to your muscle tissue. While doing this constantly would result in overtraining, performing slow negatives for a few training sessions in a cycle may be extremely beneficial for muscle growth. So every 3 or 4 training sessions, you might change to a 422 tempo - or, if you are very bold, a 613 tempo! 6 seconds to lower you on a wide-grip pull-up or weighted dip is a great way to load those muscles with tension and elicit some major growth!

Some people have weak areas such as at the bottom or top of a lift. If your bench press fails at the bottom rather than the top, you might consider a 231 tempo - take 2 seconds to lower the bar, and then pause for 3 seconds and explode up. The pause on the bottom forces you to perform an isometric contraction - your muscle contracts, but the resistance is not moved. This will strengthen you in that specific range of motion and help get past the "sticking point."
Why I Like Tempo Training...
I like to use tempo in my fat-loss programs because of the way it targets muscle fibers. Many of my clients are familiar with the sets that I prescribe where half of the set is performed explosively, and the second half extremely slow. I learned this technique from John Schaeffer, an ISSA instructor. The initial portion of the lift forces a neural or strength adaptation because the movement is explosive and requires a coordinated effort with all of the motor units within a particular muscle.

This fatigues the muscle, and then the slower reps kick in. These slower reps target individual motor units, and further fatigue the muscle and trigger a mass or hypertrophy response. Like any other training method, this is only effective for a short cycle before other techniques must be employed.

As you can see, tempo is a very powerful tool when designing training programs. Understanding tempo is easy, and incorporating it is not difficult. The next time you jump into the iron game, think about time under tension and tempo. If you dance to the tempo, I'm sure you'll be satisfied with the results.

Some things that I might mention to expand on the cadence of reps, i suggested. While I keep both the up and down at the same cadence. There is reason to go slower in the down portion of the rep. Our muscles are 30% stronger in the lowering of the weight.

Other parts of the cadence method, I suggest is, in a isolation move such as a curl, pause briefly at the top of the up motion and do not pause at the bottom simply make that rolling stop, there isn't a traffic cop on isolation moves.

In a compound pulling move like the row, pause briefly in the contracted part of move and pause in the stretched or down portion.

In a compound or multiple joint move pushing exercises like press or squat, Don't lock out the elbows or knees, the entire movement is continuous till the end of last rep. Rolling start on both ends of move.

There are lot of different ways to do things in this game and people call everything by a different name. So sometimes it doesn't make sense. Usually people are in too big a hurry to try out the different ways. The teenager does want to look like a 12 year older, he or she is beginning to want to look like a man or woman. The skinny wants to bulk and the fat wants to cut. Everyone is in a hurry. Today, they come to net for a quick answer - instant gratification. Take time to really try these things. See what the exercise feel like at different cadences. Try things before you tie yourself down to the first idea that comes along. You have time.:tucool:

Without knowing the physiology behind it, I think it is a safe bet that one should vary his/her lifting tempo frequently. Week to week I vary this. I will even change my tempo several times in a set if I feel like it.

I would say "tempo" matters in relationship to what you are doing and what you want to achieve.

Intensity is more important than failure in training.


So when you figure "tempo" into the equation you have to arrive at the actual amount of work done versus the intensity.

If I do 5 biceps curls per minute @ 25lbs. I have done 125 lbs per minute.

If I do 15 bicep curls @ 25lbs in a minute I have done 375lbs per minute.

However if I do 10 curls @ 40lbs. I have done 400lbs a minute.

However if I max out and do 2 curls at 55lbs., lets say, I have done 110 lbs a minute.

So the max rep was not the most effective at that rep range for producing intensity in a given time.

So if I did 20curls @ 40lbs I'd be doing 800 lbs aminute.

By controlling tempo I can control the intensity. But this is where it gets tricky. Because I want to get the max effect out of tempo.


So if I can One-rep max a Db at 55lbs., going slow and controlled at 25lbs. isn't going to be too beneficial even though the muscle was under tension for 60 seconds.

If I'm going slow and controlled I need to pick a weight where I'm going to get the intensity as well.

let's say I'm doing pushups. I start off, I can do 10 a minute.
Over time I keep building up to where I can do 40 a minute.

During this time I will build. But I will reach a point somewhere where the speed of cadence becomes ineffective because the actual intensity isn't increasing and there's going to be a point where I simply cannot do any more inside of a minute.

If I slow down and do one controlled rep under tension for the entire minute this will not be effective. Because I can already lift that amount of weight and more through increasing rep speed.

So I'm going to have to increase the amount of weight. And balance it with just the right amount of T.U.T. to get the max result.

So going slow and controlled just for the sake of going slow and controlled is not necessarily your best bet. Although with the right formula applied it can be.

I was taught to go down slowly and explode up as fast as you can on the movements where it makes sense(not snatches, etc). It seems to work well for me.

I agree. I enjoy a fast concentric when I lift. It makes real-world sense. I don't see any time when I'll be lifting something or hitting a ball (think tennis here) for more than one second. I'd like to think there is some neuro-muscular adaptation going on. I'm sure there are some hypertrophy-specific reasons for a slower concentric, but I don't much care for it, and if it will make me slower (as some have said), then I will avoid it.

Chad Waterbury does make some good points in this article:

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=529331

wow thanks for the huge replies. Im gonna check them out now.

Should you lift fast or slow?

Read this for why you should and shouldn't.....

http://www.cbass.com/SLOWFAST.HTM

and this one by Chad Waterbury on why you should...

http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=529331