Slow Down For Faster Muscle Gains
By Doberman Dan, author of "Hyper
Growth Muscle Mass Training".
I've heard or read at least a hundred times that to really
work a muscle you have to eliminate momentum from your exercises.
But how many of us actually do it?
A lot of bodybuilding trainers even have a suggested "tempo"
for your exercises. They'll suggest something like "4-1-2".
That means 4 seconds to complete the negative portion of the exercise,
a 1 second pause before starting the positive portion, and 2 seconds to
complete the positive portion. That's a total of 7 seconds per rep.
After re-evaluating my training I realized that I had
been sacrificing form in order to use bigger weights. I was building
my ego more than I was building my muscles! So I decided to slow
down, eliminate all momentum, and use the 4-1-2 guidelines I described
earlier.
Wow! What a difference! The first thing I
noticed is that I had to use a little less weight. Not a whole lot
less but when you'd be surprised at how heavy a weight can start to feel
when you're moving it slowly.
I also discovered that I could get a better workout and
a better pump on much fewer sets. Believe me, if you actually stick
to the 4-1-2 guidelines (it helps to have a partner time it with a stop
watch), 2 to 3 sets per body part ought to do the trick.
When you maintain these tempo guidelines but are able
to increase the weight after a while, you'll know that you've gotten a
true strength gain. Before I adopted this slower method of training, I
think some of my "strength gains" were simply me loosening up my form and
getting the weight up with more momentum.
If you've already been using a tempo similar to the 4-1-2
I described, why not try something like 6-1-3 or if you really want an
incredible pump and burn try 10-1-5. If you hit a sticking point,
this just might be the formula to help you blast out of it!
About The Author
Doberman Dan is a renowned drug free bodybuilding expert
and author of best selling book "Hyper Growth Muscle Mass Training" |
