Triage Method Newsletter - 09/02/2020
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In this week's newsletter, we discuss the topic of repetition tempo. One of my clients asked me last week if it really mattered much for strength and/or hypertrophy, so I will do my best to tease that out in the brief article section of this newsletter. As always, we have a number of recommended resources, as well as the content we shared on our social media this week.
Enjoy!
- Gary
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Initial Question: Does repetition tempo matter for my training outcomes?
This is a really good question, not just because rep tempo is often a forgotten variable, but also because when it is applied, it is sometimes overemphasised, and sometimes simply misapplied. But, before we get to that, please see the image below to get an idea of what we mean when we discuss tempo, which you can read more about here.
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In order to keep this practical, let's start by summarising our basic recommendations for tempo prescriptions when it come to strength & hypertrophy.
Strength: The main consideration here is the intent to lift the weight as fast as you can (on the concentric portion). The intent to lift quickly tends to lead to more robust strength gains, even when loads are light (Gonzalez-Badillo et al. 2014). Having said that, strength is specific, and so tempo should be prescribed in accordance with the principle of specificity. For example, a Nordic Hamstring Curl performed with a fast eccentric (secondary to heavy eccentric loading) is very different to the tempo a powerlifter may use when descending on the bench press (in a case where they find a slower eccentric useful, which some lifters do). Therefore, what "strength" means does
make this conversation a lot more nuanced, but for the general conceptualisation of "strength" in the world of barbell training (i.e. wanting to lift as much weight as possible), intentional slowing of the eccentric or concentric portion of the rep is unlikely to increase the amount of load you can lift.
It should be noted that it is the intent to move the bar a particular speed rather than the actual speed of the bar that really matters. So if the bar doesn’t take exactly 1 second in the concentric phase, but rather 2 seconds, as long as you tried to move it at a 1 second speed that’s all that matters. Tension is the currency of the muscles, and by controlling your tempo, you can create more tension on the muscle and produce more metabolic stress, but you
simply can’t make 10kg feel like 100kg even if you try.
Hypertrophy: Hypertrophy is a less specific training outcome, and hence we can be a lot more liberal with our tempo prescriptions here. For the most part, hypertrophy probably isn't going to vary too much between most conventionally prescribed tempos (e.g. 2010 vs 4121) once the set is taken close to failure, but excessively slowing the tempo (especially the concentric) can compromise hypertrophy outcomes at the extremes (Schoenfeld et al. 2015). Excessively slow tempos are rarely performed, but "Superslow" training has been popular in the past, and while the evidence would suggest that this can detract from hypertrophy outcomes, I think this observation could be somewhat washed
away if the trainee increases the repetition speed (or the intent to do so) as the set progresses. My point here is that you can play around quite a bit with tempo for hypertrophy outcomes, and the tempos that you choose to prescribe really do depend on your reasoning as a trainer/trainee.
Exercise selection, range of motion and desired training adaptation must all be taken into account when designating a tempo prescription. It would be very difficult to do true 10 second eccentrics on a calf raise (small ROM), and performing reps obsessively slowly will severely limit the amount of weight you can use, which is no good for strength orientated training programs.
At Triage, we like to use tempo to ensure good technique more than anything else. By using a consistent tempo across all your reps and sets of an exercise ensures that you are actually targeting the same adaptations across all sets. You simply can’t compare a set of 10 reps of squats with a 41X0 tempo to a set of squats with a tempo of 10X0 for the same reps. The controlled 41X0 squats leads to over 50 seconds of time under tension, and the 10X0 squats leads to
just over 10 seconds time under tension. So although “volume” is equated, the adaptations and demands of each are completely different. This would be manifested in the perceived exertion of each set, so it is important to note that there is a trade-off there between reps achieved and the relative difficulty of each rep.
We could go into more detail on this topic, as different exercises, goals, injuries, etc. can all modify the discussion, but I think that gives you a good starting point for understanding this topic. If you do have more questions, or you'd like us to do a follow-up post on a similar topic, just let us know.
- Gary McGowan
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If you want to check out more of our recommended resources, visit the link below, where we have archived all recommendations from previous newsletters.
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Podcast Ep.96 - Psychological Barriers to Weight Gain
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In this episode, Paddy and Gary get together once again to discuss the psychological barriers that can come to the surface when gaining weight. If you are trying to gain weight right now, this podcast may help you out.
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Q&A - Squats vs Hip Thrusts for Glute Growth
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In this episode, Paddy and Gary give you some insight into how they work through exercise selection decisions, with an emphasis on the reductionism that surfaces in "either-or" debates.
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The Maintenance Phase / Diet Break
by Paddy Farrell
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Progressive Overload - Triage Terminology
by Gary McGowan & Paddy Farrell
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Applied Energy Systems 1/3- Body Composition Implications
by Gary McGowan
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