Weightlifting: Lift Slow Or Lift Fast, That Is The Question Now

Breaking Down Tempo and Fast Lifting

Tempo refers to how quickly or slowly you lift a weight.

You won’t always get tempo recommendations in a training program, particularly if you just pick one from a generic fitness magazine, but sometimes, particularly when it comes to bodybuilding or athletic performance programs, you might see a few numbers next to an exercise. It will usually be laid out similar to the following –

1:x:3:1

What does this mean?

The first number refers to how quickly you lift the weight. In this instance, that’s one second.

The second number is how long you pause for at the top. X indicates no tempo required – this is also sometimes shown as 0. (Note: If there are only three numbers in a tempo indicator, it will be this one – the contracted position that has been dropped out.)

Number three is the eccentric portion, or the lowering phase of a lift. With this example, a three second negative is a particularly slow tempo and you’ll need to lower the weight with great control.

Finally, the fourth number tells you how much time to spend in the stretched position at the bottom of a movement. Here that’s just one second – no need to linger, but just enough to take any momentum or bounce out of the movement.

Now you’ve had your tempo lesson 101, let’s take a look at two different tempos – fast and slow.

Lifting Explosively

This is most usually associated with power athletes. Think of an Olympic weightlifter as an example – when performing a snatch or a clean and jerk, there’s no way they could do those movements slowly. They require a huge amount of muscular force and speed in order to lift such heavy weights in such a way.

Clearly, this type of lifting builds a tonne of strength and power.

The power aspect is important, as this has a large carryover to improving performance in sporting events. Pretty much any sport, be it a contact sport such as football or rugby, and individual fighting or grappling event like judo, or even tennis, athletics and field events require power for sprinting, running, leaping, jumping and tackling moves.

Plyometric exercises (jumping and bounding exercises such as jump squats, box jumps and clap pushups) are the perfect example of moves that require a fast lifting tempo and are staple moves in almost any sports performance based training plan.

Lifting fast can build muscle too.

You have two types of muscle fibers – fast twitch and slow twitch. And guess which type responds best to lifting quickly?

Yep, your fast twitch fibers are the ones that take control when you speed up tempo and lift with explosiveness. When these fast twitch fibers adapt and grow, this is known as myofibrillar hypertrophy.

Myofibrillar hypertrophy is an increase in the density of the muscle cells. This typically only occurs when you lift heavy weights in the one to six repetition range and lift with fast concentrics, writes coach Christian Thibaudeau in “The Black Book of Training Secrets.”

Fast training builds functional hypertrophy and also strength, which is why you’ll also see powerlifters trying to accelerate the bar as quickly as possible on squats, deadlifts and bench presses.

Slow Tempo and Considerations

If lifting weights fast is so great, then why even bother with slow tempos? Surely there must be something in the notion of slow training, when you see how many bodybuilders lift weights in a controlled, almost leisurely manner.

Slower tempo training was popularized by bodybuilder and trainer Mike Mentzer in the 1980s. Mentzer believed that lifting slowly created a bigger stimulus, caused more muscle damage and therefore resulted in greater growth.

Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is an increase in the fluid levels within a muscle cell. Unlike myofibrillar growth, this doesn’t lead to maximal strength gains, but it does increase muscle size, provided your nutrition and recovery are also in order.

You’ll also notice that when lifting weights slowly, you can’t use nearly as much weight as lifting fast. This may appear detrimental, and certainly if you’re training for strength or sports, it will be, but if maximum muscle growth is your goal, it may actually be beneficial.

Lifting slowly, particularly on the eccentric portion of an exercise does cause more muscle breakdown than simply letting the weight drop down. The theory that many bodybuilders go by, and again, Mentzer was a big proponent of this, is that your muscles don’t actually know how much they’re lifting. They respond to a stimulus, not to a certain number of pounds or kilos. There’s no doubt that if you’ve got 250 pounds on a barbell when bench pressing, it’s much harder for your chest and triceps if you take five seconds to lower it and three to press it up than it is letting it drop to your chest then bouncing it back up again.

A safety argument also exists, with many claiming that lifting slowly is safer. Again, this isn’t wholly true, but there is something in it. For experienced athletes, lifting with speed and power is the way to go, but for newbie gym goers, lifting quickly may encourage poor form and while a super-slow tempo might not be the best idea, a controlled tempo is likely better than an explosive one.

Considerations

How fast you lift is dependent on your goals.

Training for sports, powerlifting or Olympic lifting? Forget lifting slowly altogether – you need to train your muscles and nervous system to lift quickly, and slow training can have negative effects.

Training for muscle growth or bodybuilding purposes? A mix of both is probably best. Stick with fast tempos and lower reps on your compound moves like squats and deadlifts, but throw in some slower tempo lifts, focusing particularly on the eccentric portion on your accessory exercises.