Thread: Weight lifiting - Slow Or Fast?

I agree slow negatives will rip you up, I dont know how much speed matters when you are lifting the weight though. You dont want to go to fast though, I guess a "medium pace" would be good. If you dont know what that is listen to the Adam Sandler song . Ive seen some pretty jacked guys though push weights pretty quickly with shitty ROMs, I just figure they're on the juice and ignore the way the lift.

Lifting slowly results in more Time Under Tension, which means more stress on the muscles, which results in greater adaptation and growth. Not saying that doing a light weight slowly will be hugely beneficial, but if you can pump out a rep of anything every 0.5 seconds or something, you definitely need more weight.

To be completely objective, a variety of lifting tempos is the ideal way to train.

Personally, lifting for the moment is ideal. Generally, I lift at a tempo of about 2 second concentrics and 2-3 second negatives, but if I'm feeling something different I'll go with it. I'll sometimes change tempos during sets, and not just to compensate for fatigue but to respond to energy fluctuations.

I think too many people over-think the whole time under tension principle. I say whatever you feel in the moment is what you should go with. Some days you might feel more explosive and want to go for more of a power approach; some days you'll feel more steady and wanting to control the weight with negatives; some days you might feel like doing a basic up and down kind of tempo. While I don't like to incorporate too many advanced training principles -- as I believe they can get in the way and interfere with what should be simple (K.I.S.S!!!) and productive -- but tempo training is one variable I almost never use anymore. In my early days 2/3 of my training was all-negatives. While it helped me develop good strength on particular lifts, I found it too limiting; I felt like I was in this box and had to train within its confines. I don't like that. Plus, certain lifts don't bode well with negatives in my opinion. Deadlifts are number one on that list. The emphasis on that lift unlike many others is the concentric; I find deadlift negatives to be very awkward and unproductive.

Originally Posted by Phedder

Lifting slowly results in more Time Under Tension, which means more stress on the muscles, which results in greater adaptation and growth. Not saying that doing a light weight slowly will be hugely beneficial, but if you can pump out a rep of anything every 0.5 seconds or something, you definitely need more weight.

Typically, with negatives the idea is too use a weight you otherwise couldn't lift, as the muscles are generally stronger on the eccentric portion of the lift.

When I had been lifting for 6 months and was still doing arm curls I could negative curl 45s for about three 10-second reps, but I couldn't concentric curl a 40 for even one rep.

Originally Posted by Phineas

To be completely objective, a variety of lifting tempos is the ideal way to train.

Personally, lifting for the moment is ideal. Generally, I lift at a tempo of about 2 second concentrics and 2-3 second negatives, but if I'm feeling something different I'll go with it. I'll sometimes change tempos during sets, and not just to compensate for fatigue but to respond to energy fluctuations.

I think too many people over-think the whole time under tension principle. I say whatever you feel in the moment is what you should go with. Some days you might feel more explosive and want to go for more of a power approach; some days you'll feel more steady and wanting to control the weight with negatives; some days you might feel like doing a basic up and down kind of tempo. While I don't like to incorporate too many advanced training principles -- as I believe they can get in the way and interfere with what should be simple (K.I.S.S!!!) and productive -- but tempo training is one variable I almost never use anymore. In my early days 2/3 of my training was all-negatives. While it helped me develop good strength on particular lifts, I found it too limiting; I felt like I was in this box and had to train within its confines. I don't like that. Plus, certain lifts don't bode well with negatives in my opinion. Deadlifts are number one on that list. The emphasis on that lift unlike many others is the concentric; I find deadlift negatives to be very awkward and unproductive.

I agree, although I am considering doing EDT for my next routine. Otherwise it just depends on how I feel.

I also agree. Thought I'd mention that some lifts lend themselves to speed. Cleans, push-press, snatches, ect. When momentum is a factor, I don't see any benefit in slowing down the exercise. The goal is to complete the lift. Negatives don't really work too well, either, much like with deadlifting. Interesting discussion.

Originally Posted by Phineas

Typically, with negatives the idea is too use a weight you otherwise couldn't lift, as the muscles are generally stronger on the eccentric portion of the lift.

Yeah I was just referring to concentrics. You're right that the muscles are stronger during the eccentric portion, muscle tension is greatest when the muscle length is greatest. Slow negatives still fit brilliantly with the time under tension principle. They generally involve the greatest amount of time, combined with the greatest amount of tension.

Originally Posted by BC Lifter

I agree slow negatives will rip you up, I dont know how much speed matters when you are lifting the weight though. You dont want to go to fast though, I guess a "medium pace" would be good. If you dont know what that is listen to the Adam Sandler song . Ive seen some pretty jacked guys though push weights pretty quickly with shitty ROMs, I just figure they're on the juice and ignore the way the lift.

You see that shampoo bottle? Now...stick it up my ass!

That said, heavy negs are great to throw in every once in a while, but I dont know if I would do them every workout. They seem to require quite a bit of recovery.

FAST Lift more weight faster. The way you lift more is learning.. lifting fast. There are sticking points momentum will help you bust through them.

There is also this thing called intensity. Imagine putting force on the bar as if to throw it or imagine a shot put. How the hell are you going to make you presence known by pushing a shot put slow. How far will it go lifting slow? Are kids pussies?

If you want to do slow negs put on MORE weight then you can do positive or forget it. IMHO.

A few things:

I'm not sure if faster or slow is better for muscular development. The key is control. Lifting fast is often (incorrectly) associated with a lack of control when in fact these are completely different ideas. If you can lift a weight quickly and under control, you will definitely see benefit.

Second, for strength development, you lift weights as fast as you can. As Louie Simmons often says, "Have you ever tried to lift a heavy weight slowly?" Powerlifters at meets may seem like they're squatting slowly, but the truth is that they're trying to lift those heavy weights as fast as they can because momentum helps carry you through the tough points of the lift.

That said I prefer fast, kind of like this guy: