The gain in mass and the increase in strength depend on the speed of the exercise. How do bodybuilders and triathletes perform tempo movements? Speed is the key to success! Changing the pace of your repetitions in bodybuilding and powerlifting is one of the ways to make continuous progress in bodybuilding. This is a very important question, as it allows you to make changes in training, which will lead to the growth of muscle tissue. This is the topic of today's article. You will also learn about the phases of repetitions, and which ones are more effective.
Rules for changing the pace of repetitions
There are many exercises for developing different muscle groups. Many athletes also know that there is a concept of negative and positive phases of movement. You can also find information that with a prolonged negative load, muscle tissue is more injured. At the same time, there is no information on the effect of the rate of repetitions in bodybuilding and powerlifting muscle growth, as well as all phases. But these are very important questions and in order to achieve constant progress, you need to know about this.
Powerlifters perform reps at a super slow pace, weightlifters at a fast pace, and bodybuilders do average. In the first case, this leads to an increase in strength, in the second - explosive strength, and in the third - an increase in muscle mass. From this we can conclude that the speed and type of exercise performance have a great influence on weight growth. There are three phases of strength movement:
- Positive - the weight rises more slowly than it falls;
- Negative - the weight rises faster than it goes down;
- Static - holding weight without moving.
There can also be three types of pace for any exercise:
- Fast - the repetition is performed for 1 to 2 seconds and there are no pauses between repetitions;
- Medium - it takes about 2 seconds to complete the replay;
- Slow - there may be a second pause between repetitions, and repetition is performed in 2-4 seconds.
The main task of strength training is to cause microdamage to the fibers of muscle tissue, which is possible with a sharp drop in the level of ATP. It can be achieved in any of the ways described above, and for this reason, experts fail to reach agreement on the question of which one is more.
It should be said right away that all of the above questions are not of great importance for novice athletes. But with the increase in training experience, they become more and more relevant. The most popular way to increase your ATP consumption is to lift more weight. Often, athletes use it all the time and do not even know that it is possible to change the rate of repetitions in bodybuilding and powerlifting, achieving the same result. What happens to the muscles when the speed of movement changes?
Increasing the duration of the negative repetition phase
Over the past decade, negative training has gained a huge following. The simple form of negative training looks very simple - you need to lower the equipment for a longer period of time than it takes to lift it. Let's say you lift dumbbells for biceps in one second, and lower the projectile for 2 to 4 seconds, while controlling the movement.
Professional athletes often use the improved version. Such a weight is used that the athlete cannot lift on his own and a friend helps him in this, and the weight is lowered by the athlete himself. Negative training is based on the fact that muscles are able to develop more effort when lowering weights. When the energy (ATP) runs out in the muscles, the fibers are injured. There are two drawbacks to negative reps - energy and speed. The slower you work with weights, the slower your muscles become. Also, when performing negative repetitions, energy is consumed much more slowly. However, there is a technique that will allow you to increase the effectiveness of negative training. To do this, first you do positive repetitions, and when your energy reserves are running out, go to negative training.
Increasing the duration of the positive repetition phase
Compared to negative reps, doing positive reps depletes energy and oxygen faster. From this it can be concluded that positive training is more important for muscle growth than negative training. It should also be said that the central nervous system is more active with positive reps.
This suggests that by increasing the duration of the positive phase, you are training your mental connection between the brain and muscles, which allows you to use more motor units during exercise.
Increasing the duration of the positive and negative phases of repetitions
This is an even more effective technique for building mass. In this case, the muscles are subjected to powerful double stress. However, not every athlete can use it. Beginners should not delay both phases, but experienced athletes can use this technique.
Increasing the duration of the static repetition phase
Static loading also has certain advantages. For example, it helps to increase the strength of the ligaments and tendons. It should also be said that under static load, little blood flows to the muscles, since the arteries are pinched. For this reason, muscle fibers are forced to work under conditions of severe hypoxia.
It should also be remembered that due to static loads, the athlete is able to work with large weights, which is also an advantage of this technique. Well, in conclusion, a few words about the rapid execution of movements. This allows you to increase the anabolism of fast fibers, which are much more susceptible to hypertrophy. For bodybuilders, it will be more effective to use a balanced time to complete the negative and positive phases. The emphasis on increasing the duration of the negative and positive phases should be done to achieve certain goals, for example, to increase the strength of ligaments and tendons.
For more details on the pace of repetitions in powerlifting and bodybuilding, see this video:
