Four Seconds to More Productive Workouts
Monday, December 19th, 2005Just read over this article by Ian King @ T-nation .
Basically he recommends weight training to a “tempo” for example -
“It usually looks something like 3111…The 3 refers to the number of seconds it should take to lower the weight, while the second number refers to the pause you should take before attempting to lift the weight. You can probably guess that the third number has to do with the speed with which you should lift the weight, and the fourth number, when it’s used, refers to the pause you should take before starting the next rep.”
In my current workouts i have been doing slow movements only. However i will aim to follow this “4 second rule” - “the number of seconds it takes for the lowering of the weight and the pause should equal at least four.” - and do explosive concentric movements - “simply trying to lift a weight fast—regardless of how long it took you—was as good as actually moving it quickly.”
Conclusion:
- Use the 4 second rule
- “Most of the time, bodybuilders should attempt to lift the weight as quickly as possible to recruit more motor units and generate the most force, and simply trying to lift the weight quickly is as good as actually lifting it quickly”
- “Generally, the pause at the end of a rep (the middle number in Ian’s prescriptions; and the fourth number in Charles’ protocol) should be equal to the pause taken between the eccentric and the concentric.”
- “If you’re training for growth, the total time under tension for a set should be somewhere between 40 and 70 seconds. If, however, you’re training for strength, the total time under tension should be about 20 to 40 seconds, or even less. As an example, say you’re doing 10 reps of bench press using a 3111 speed of motion. Each rep takes about 6 seconds, and the total time under tension when multiplied by 10 equals 60 seconds, which is perfect for hypertrophy.”
