Correct tempo for hypertrophy?

[Monte_Cristo]

So long story short I've been told that hypertrophy is stimulated mostly from medium weights that I can handle at a very slow pace.

I've been told to perform both the positive and the negative part of a lift in 3 seconds, both of them not only the negative.

The pump is good but I find myself lifting weights way below my habits, I mostly suffer in the positive part it seems unnatural to me to take so much time to push or pull while Im perfectly fine to have a controlled slow negative.

I feel like that I could handle much heavier weights if I was allowed to be quicker in the positive phase, it seems like even the negative Im not giving it all since the new weights are not that hard to slow down.

Anyone tried this way and has some knowledge to share?

btw till now my usual tempo was 1.5/2 secs for the positive and 3 for the negative.

 

[BennyMagoo79]

So long story short I've been told that hypertrophy is stimulated mostly from medium weights that I can handle at a very slow pace.

I've been told to perform both the positive and the negative part of a lift in 3 seconds, both of them not only the negative.

The pump is good but I find myself lifting weights way below my habits, I mostly suffer in the positive part it seems unnatural to me to take so much time to push or pull while Im perfectly fine to have a controlled slow negative.

I feel like that I could handle much heavier weights if I was allowed to be quicker in the positive phase, it seems like even the negative Im not giving it all since the new weights are not that hard to slow down.

Anyone tried this way and has some knowledge to share?


btw till now my usual tempo was 1.5/2 secs for the positive and 3 for the negative.

To start with, training response is individual with regard to training protocols, some find higher reps better over the long term, some find strength training better, so at the end of the day if you find something that works for you keep doing it.

Its pretty much universally believed there are two manipulations for hypertrophy: time under tension (metabolic stress) and peak tension(mechanical stress). By increasing your rep time you are manipulating time under tension: metabolically stressing your body to stimulate adaptation which we call sarcoplasmic (cell fluid) hypertrophy. So basically your body responds to this kind of training by increasing muscle cell volume so more energy (glycogen, CTP, and possibly ATP) can be stored locally for rapid use. Your body adapts very quickly to this kind of training, but at the same time the effects rapidly fade when you stop. Over the long term, it may beneficial for overall growth by stretching surrounding fascia, allowing the muscle to expand with less energy costs.

Personally, I feel like this kind of thing is a waste of time unless I am running it as a second or third weekly sesh with a strength/power day as well, and even then I do it mainly for rehab value (its a great way to floss nerves and iron out fascia). I have found over time my body responds best to the power training and that manipulating time under tension can lead to injury (I am 38 and have a pretty physical job) so I stay well away from failure with this kind of training.

My 2 cents.

 

[kisaj]

My take is not to overthink it. Your tempo is going to make.00001 difference overall. Anyone that says different will never be able to back it up with any actual visual proof.