Slow Down, Get Ripped

The biggest mistake I see at the gym is people sacrificing form for speed or weight. 

There is no point of doing an exercise that you are not going to do properly; it can result in injury or death…. Ok probably not death but I want you to know I am serious. You are at the gym to improve, and not to slowly damage your joints.!

But I digress- the point of this article is to get you to SLOW DOWN

I am not suggesting the super slow training style that has gained some undeserved notoriety as of late.

I am referring to doing an exercise in a controlled manner that optimizes time under tension at a reasonable tempo.  

Exercising at a slower tempo and adding pauses to your routines can help promote muscle growth and give you the tensile strength of a gorilla!

So, what do I do? What’s a good tempo?

Lets start with the movement phases:

Every exercise has a concentric (shortening of muscles) and eccentric (lengthening of muscles) phase of the movement. 

Example: cable row  

Concentric: bringing the weight towards you

Isometric: the complete pause when the concentric phase is completed

Eccentric: lowering the weight back down

This week try doing your regular workout with a this tempo:

Concentric phase: 1-2seconds

Isometric/Pause: 1 Mississippi

Eccentric phase: 4 seconds

Guaranteed better pump than just repping out your workout as fast as possible.

Just for fun, here is a sample upper body workout to try the tempo on:

1) Bench Press: 3x8

2a) Cable Row: 3x10

2b) Single Arm Dumbell Row 3x10

3a) Tricep Exentions 3x 8

3b) Pikes 3x8

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