Lift Slow, Lift Fast - Mix Up the Tempo

Tempo in weight training is the rhythm at which you raise and lower a weight, including the rest time at the top of the lift and at the bottom of the lift. There's much discussion in weight training circles about the best tempo for various outcomes, but this mostly applies to bodybuilding and general weight training rather than powerlifting or Olympic lifting.

Tempo has a particular numeric scheme to describe the different phases. For example, 30X1 would mean:

• The first number '3' is the time in seconds to return the weight in the eccentric or negative phase.
• The second number '0' is the pause at the completion of the exercise or at the starting point.
• The third character 'X' means an explosive lift in the concentric phase. This would be the raising of the dumbbell in an arm curl for example. X stands for explosive movement, but this could be 2 to 5 seconds in an alternative tempo arrangement.
• The fourth number '1' is the pause at the top of the lift (or press) -- when you have bent the elbow and lifted the dumbbell to maximum contraction in an arm curl for example.

Many schemes are possible, depending on the program you're following and the results you're after. "Superslow" training, for example, might use a 10-second lift rather than an explosive lift. I know of no reliable research that shows that training at this very slow tempo has any advantages.

For novice and general fitness training, you could use 3331 or even 3631. Remember that the first number is the eccentric or negative movement of returning to the starting position while lengthening the muscle and increasing the joint angle. Older trainers seem to benefit from an explosive (X) concentric phase according to recent research, and explosive lifting is a standard training methodology for developing power for sports or other requirements where speed and strength are required.