Mastering tempos is crucial to getting the most out of your program as they facilitate progression, modify resistance profiles, alter the stimulus, and emphasise the targeted muscles and areas.
Your program will include lifting tempos such as 3011, 4010, and 3110 to indicate how the exercise should be performed.
For instance, 3110 tempo means spending three seconds in the eccentric, pausing for one second in the lengthened position, one second in the concentric, and zero seconds in the shortened position.
3 – Time in the eccentric
1 – Time pausing after the eccentric in the lengthened position of the muscle
1 – Time in the concentric
0 – Time at the end of the concentric. This is the shortened position of the muscle.
The eccentric refers to the muscle lengthening, not necessarily the exercise's start or weight lowering.
The pause after the eccentric reduces momentum and sustains muscle tension.
The concentric is the third number, in the above example 1, is the time spent in the concentric. This is the actual contraction of the muscle and movement of the load.
The shortened position is where the muscle contracts the most, and if there is a time written here, it is an isometric that requires actively squeezing the muscle, not just holding the weight.
Ignoring the tempos written in your program can compromise achieving the desired training phase's stimulus.
Comments