When you walk into a gym, how can you tell if someone is a "newbie" or if they are an "experienced lifter"? What clues give it away? Maybe you look at how big they are? How much weight they are lifting? Are they wearing the "promotional T-shirt" they gave away with the membership, or are they wearing that lit, new cut-off you saw your favorite fitness influencer wearing on Instagram?
Well...first off, I gotta say, that was some really impressive detective work. There might just be one little clue that you could have possibly overlooked, which in my humble opinion, is maybe the best indicator of experience, and that is: how well does a "lifter" implement the concept of TEMPO.
What The Hell is Tempo?
Well I'm really glad you asked, smartest thing you've said all day, let me enlighten you. Tempo is the "Speed of Movement" or "Rep Speed". For the fastest path to capped delts, sexy glutes or sleeve splitting bicep pumps...man, say that three times fast, lol, you need to keep the muscle you're working under tension as much as possible throughout your workout. Time under tension = achieving all those very deep existential goals I just mentioned a few lines ago.
Here's the gist of it: The faster the speed, the lower the muscle tension...baaaddd. The slower the speed, the greater the muscle tension...goooood. Well, it's not exactly that simple, but it does mean you can increase the effectiveness of your workout and it's ability to build muscle, even without having to add more weight. You can make the weight feel heavier by manipulating tempo and tension. Let's dive in.
Four Point Tempo Prescriptions
To beginners, rep speed is thought of only in terms of lifting and lowering the weight, but there's so much more to a rep than up and down.
Stage 1: Eccentric Contraction Lowering the Weight Length of time: 3
Stage 2: Stretch Position Bottom Position Length of time: 0
Stage 3: Concentric Contraction Raising the Weight Length of time: 1
Stage 4: Contracted Position Top Position Length of time: 2
EXAMPLE #1 (Contraction Exercises): BICEP CURL - TEMPO: 3012
To reach the highest intensity level and squeeze every last drop of potential from every single rep, requires an analysis of each exercise to understand the most effective tempos to use. A bicep curl, for example, is a "Contraction Exercise". This means that maximum tension is achieved at the top of the movement (the contracted position), therefore, if you were to hold the contraction at the top for 2 or 3 seconds, it would make the exercise much more intense...right? So a tempo suggestion for a bicep curl using a contraction emphasis could be 3-0-1-2 (lower the weight in 3 seconds, no pause at the bottom, lift the weight in 1 second, then hold and "squeeze" at the top for 2 seconds). Other examples of contraction exercises where you could use a similar tempo include: Tricep Extensions, Leg Extensions, Leg Curls, Seated Machine Rows, Dumbbell Lateral Raises, Weighted Crunches, etc.
EXAMPLE #2 (Stretch Exercises): CHEST PRESS - TEMPO: 2210
Unlike contraction exercises, like the Bicep Curl, it can be more effective to to exaggerate the stretch on certain exercises. When we perform exercises like the Chest Press depicted above, many people take advantage of the "Stretch Shortening Cycle" to more easily move the weight back up, which means using the elastic energy generated to explosively "bounce" out of the bottom of the movement which greatly reduces the tension on the muscle which is the opposite of what we are trying to achieve.
Because we want to maximize the tension placed on the muscle we're working, for exercises like the chest press, incorporating a "pause" in the bottom position of 1-2 seconds will increase the muscular tension and will enhance the effectiveness of your workout from a pure muscle building standpoint.
A tempo suggestion for a chest press using a stretch emphasis could be 2-2-1-0 (lower the weight in 2 seconds, pause for 2 seconds at the bottom, lift the weight in 1 second, then no pause at the top). Other examples of stretch exercises where you could use a similar tempo include: Cable Chest Fly, Dumbbell Fly, Reverse-Grip Lat Pulldown, Pull Up, etc.
If you were not familiar with TEMPO PRESCRIPTIONS before reading this, first off, I'm sorry you didn't find such an amazing trainer sooner, and secondly, welcome to a new level of training.
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