FAST Reps or SLOW ONES?!!

[Red Fox]

Or, fast against gravity and slow with gravity? (A mix)


I always did fast. Never gained much definition to be honest.

Switched to slow reps, felt sore for once.

But then I decided to settle in on fast against gravity, and slow coming down?


What is best for definition and growth?

[asooneyeonig]

imo that is such a minor thing that it just doesnt matter for 99.9% of the worlds population. so please stop majoring in the minors.

and your goals are somewhat polar opposites. it takes extra calories to grow but takes less calories to shed fat, or get definition as you stated. you can try to do both at the same time but the progress of each will slow down. and even then progress can be measured in months and most people want days.

if you want to get technical:

• Explosive lifting burns more calories than slow lifting. Squats – explosive movement burns 12% more than slow squats
  
  • Eu J Appli Physol 99: 257, 2007

• Failure training does not increase strength or power. In the 1970's Alfred Goldberg showed that tension, TUT promotes muscle growth. Recently Ken Baldwin @ Univ of California, Irvine supported Goldberg. Australian researchers showed that forced reps did not increase strength or power in basketball and volleyball players
  
  • Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 21: 841-847, 2007

• High intensity weight training boosts blood sugar control.
  
  • Strength training increases fat metabolism by stimulating beta-adrenic receptors – cell structures that make adrenaline and increase metabolism and fat use.
  • Improves blood sugar metabolism
  • Univ. of Montana, led by Andy Miller showed that high intensity/low volume weight training promoted better blood sugar regulation than low intensity/high volume work.
  
  
• Journal Strength Conditioning Research, 21: 330-335, 2007

what you can take from that is do faster reps but no need to throw it around, control the weights. keep the weight high and do lots of volume to grow muscle and improve bodyfat levels.

so we all know. what exercises are you doing?

how many reps, sets, and at what intensity?

how are you progressing the weights, in english, are you periodizing?

how long have you been doing this plan?

hows your diet, and i dont mean say its good or bad. list out exactly what you ate yesterday and the amounts so we can estimate caloric intake.

whats your body type right now, and this one can be vague. are you lean, chunky, fat, skinny, bulky, etc.

[Tonycfh]

Or, fast against gravity and slow with gravity? (A mix)

I always did fast. Never gained much definition to be honest.

Switched to slow reps, felt sore for once.

But then I decided to settle in on fast against gravity, and slow coming down?

What is best for definition and growth?

Definition is achived by diet not the speed of your reps. I think the best tempo for growth is slow on the negative and explode on the way up

[asooneyeonig]

Definition is achived by diet not the speed of your reps. I think the best tempo for growth is slow on the negative and explode on the way up

gotta love bobybuilding broscience. i remember reading in some silly 'zine that the opposite was what increased muscle mass the most.

i still think the overall exercise, rep, sets, intensity, and volume trump cadence any day of the week. if cadence matters to someone i would think that they are so elite and are part of less then .1% of the worlds population. but thats my jaded viewpoint.

[machorox123]

Whether your looking for strength gains or jus muscular hypertrophy always explode through the concentric motion of the exercise (against gravity)

[ZiR RED]

This is going to be a very philosophical response.

With regards to fast vs. slow for growth, some of it may come down to time under tension. We have discussed that and there are tons of articles on it. But what about comparing not the same movement, but two different movements.

For example, shoulder shrugs vs. squats for the action of the upper trapezius vs. quadriceps. The ROM is very different, in that the weight may travel 2-3" for the former compared to 2-3 feet for the latter. That of course changes the TUT for the two different movements. A 10 rep squat may take 30 seconds while a 10 rep shrug may take 8-10. Does that mean slow movements like shoulder shrugs should be slower, or held for a squeeze longer at the top? I really cannot comment too far on that....

Thoughts?

Br

[machorox123]

This is going to be a very philosophical response.

With regards to fast vs. slow for growth, some of it may come down to time under tension. We have discussed that and there are tons of articles on it. But what about comparing not the same movement, but two different movements.

For example, shoulder shrugs vs. squats for the action of the upper trapezius vs. quadriceps. The ROM is very different, in that the weight may travel 2-3" for the former compared to 2-3 feet for the latter. That of course changes the TUT for the two different movements. A 10 rep squat may take 30 seconds while a 10 rep shrug may take 8-10. Does that mean slow movements like shoulder shrugs should be slower, or held for a squeeze longer at the top? I really cannot comment too far on that....

Thoughts?

Br

Havnt thought of it like that. Could it be the ratio of muscle size to the natural rom which determines the amount of TUT to promote growth.. I always squeeze and hold at the top of shrugs

[DreadedVVolf]

There's a time for all of these methods. Useing all of them, each one for its own season, will help you reach your goals. Who knows, maybe you won't react well to fast, pump reps untill later on in your fitness journey. Or maybe the other way around. As long as the form is superb, there is always freedom to experiment to better understand your body.

Personally, I enjoy slow 4\4 count reps. Slow positives and slow negatives. Then, on a special occasion, I do incredibly fast partial reps at a high count.
Partial reps with a pause have rocked many of workouts for me and helped me develop some of my weaker areas.