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A lot of trainees manipulate sets, reps, exercises, and even rest-times to get results. But too many of them overlook another aspect of training–repetition speed. By slowing down your repetition speed, you can recruit more muscle fibers (total) near the final repetitions of your sets then you could via fast-repetitions, since your fast-twitch muscle fibers will come in to rescue your slow-twitch muscle fibers, which you target with slow-repetitions (about 7-10 seconds for both the lift and descent).
But fast repetition speeds boast lots of benefits too, particularly when it comes to strength and power. Slow-repetition speeds, on the other hand, may be utilized for either mass or endurance. In general, if you’re training for strength & power, you’ll want to explode the weight up as fast as possible–that’s why you hear so many football coaches yelling, “drive the weight! drive the weight!”.
So how does this correlate to your training goals? Well, if you’re training for a marathon let’s say, or you want to improve your running, you might want to consider incorporating some slow-repetition training into your workouts.
Another great way to incorporate slow repetition training may be to throw in a few sets at the end of your workout, for example. If you’re training chest on a given day, consider doing 3 sets of 6-8 reps of 10-second dips as your last exercise of your workout or circuit. You can use weight, if necessary.
Or, you could employ slow-repetition training as a kind of drop-set on the last set of a given exercise, preferably on a machine. Drop the weight 30-40%, and perform as many 7-10 second lifts and negatives as you can.
Either way, it’s another training variable that you should be mindful of; so pay attention to your repetition speed.
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