Why Slow Reps Suck for Muscle Growth
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Date: 2022-04-12
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Comments and reviews: 10
James
The basic flaw in your theory is that you are trying to apply the terms, definitions, and principles of the physics of inanimate objects to the operations of a biomechanical entity. The terms of work, power, and total accumulated poundage do not apply to human muscle fibers. Muscle fibers exert high forces when they shorten slowly, but low forces when they shorten quickly. This is because slow shortening speeds allow lots of actin-myosin crossbridges to form at the same time, and actin-myosin crossbridges are what allows each muscle fiber to produce force. In contrast, fast shortening speeds cause the actin-myosin crossbridges inside muscle fibers to detach at a faster rate, and this leads to fewer simultaneous crossbridges being formed at any one time. As you can see, the mechanical tension experienced by whole muscle is very different from the mechanical tension experienced by each muscle fiber. The activation, recruitment, and subsequent building of the muscle fibers which produce hypertrophy(which I presume is what you want) is different from the reactions of the entire muscle organ. Hypertrophy happens when individual muscle fibers experience mechanical loading, not when whole muscle-tendon units experience mechanical loading. The operations of muscles and machines are not the same.
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The basic flaw in your theory is that you are trying to apply the terms, definitions, and principles of the physics of inanimate objects to the operations of a biomechanical entity. The terms of work, power, and total accumulated poundage do not apply to human muscle fibers. Muscle fibers exert high forces when they shorten slowly, but low forces when they shorten quickly. This is because slow shortening speeds allow lots of actin-myosin crossbridges to form at the same time, and actin-myosin crossbridges are what allows each muscle fiber to produce force. In contrast, fast shortening speeds cause the actin-myosin crossbridges inside muscle fibers to detach at a faster rate, and this leads to fewer simultaneous crossbridges being formed at any one time. As you can see, the mechanical tension experienced by whole muscle is very different from the mechanical tension experienced by each muscle fiber. The activation, recruitment, and subsequent building of the muscle fibers which produce hypertrophy(which I presume is what you want) is different from the reactions of the entire muscle organ. Hypertrophy happens when individual muscle fibers experience mechanical loading, not when whole muscle-tendon units experience mechanical loading. The operations of muscles and machines are not the same.
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shane
He's right. I used to think the old advice of controlling the weight, nice and slow down and up was the way to go, no momentum whatsoever but it is counter productive and you have to substantially reduce the weight and you get nowhere. In real life muscles don't work that way, when moving you use varying amounts of momentum naturally, it's how much force your muscles are applying behind the momentum that matter's. Think of an Olympic 100m sprinter and how much added momentum they use, are they not engaging their muscles fully, of course they are
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He's right. I used to think the old advice of controlling the weight, nice and slow down and up was the way to go, no momentum whatsoever but it is counter productive and you have to substantially reduce the weight and you get nowhere. In real life muscles don't work that way, when moving you use varying amounts of momentum naturally, it's how much force your muscles are applying behind the momentum that matter's. Think of an Olympic 100m sprinter and how much added momentum they use, are they not engaging their muscles fully, of course they are
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Doesnt
Everybody is different. Find what works for you. Sure try these things out, but don't take it as the gospel truth. Example: Everyone taught me pushing from the heel activates glutes and hamstrings more, but for me pushing from the balls of my feet set my quads and glutes on fire when doing unilateral lower body work. What may work for me, may not work for you.
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Everybody is different. Find what works for you. Sure try these things out, but don't take it as the gospel truth. Example: Everyone taught me pushing from the heel activates glutes and hamstrings more, but for me pushing from the balls of my feet set my quads and glutes on fire when doing unilateral lower body work. What may work for me, may not work for you.
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Just
This was a great video and by the comments I'm not sure it was well understood. The math of how much weight lifted (total reps) is the main point I took from the video. If we're slowing down at the expense of less repetitions or less weight per repetition, then assume we are experiencing less work and less hypertrophy. Not a doctor.
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This was a great video and by the comments I'm not sure it was well understood. The math of how much weight lifted (total reps) is the main point I took from the video. If we're slowing down at the expense of less repetitions or less weight per repetition, then assume we are experiencing less work and less hypertrophy. Not a doctor.
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Manuel
This is basically true. What most people don't understand is that value of tension matters most. Tension is equivalent to muscle force.
More tension means more force means faster movement! Where the tension is coming from is a different story. Faster rep speed can lead to different muscle activation patterns.
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This is basically true. What most people don't understand is that value of tension matters most. Tension is equivalent to muscle force.
More tension means more force means faster movement! Where the tension is coming from is a different story. Faster rep speed can lead to different muscle activation patterns.
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Dan
You're Confused between bodybuilding and weightlifting. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Columbo were weightlifters then became bodybuilders. then they were doing bodybuilding. everybody today wants to copy that. weight lifting is about moving the weight like the guy in the video. he is not doing bodybuilding!
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You're Confused between bodybuilding and weightlifting. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Columbo were weightlifters then became bodybuilders. then they were doing bodybuilding. everybody today wants to copy that. weight lifting is about moving the weight like the guy in the video. he is not doing bodybuilding!
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Maiden
I did fast reps once vs slow reps. And I discovered that the fast reps I got tired quickly and only did 3 sets. However the slow reps I did 6 reps. Conclusion: I can rely on slow reps because my form is better and I did more sets. However, I will try to increase the ecentric portion a bit
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I did fast reps once vs slow reps. And I discovered that the fast reps I got tired quickly and only did 3 sets. However the slow reps I did 6 reps. Conclusion: I can rely on slow reps because my form is better and I did more sets. However, I will try to increase the ecentric portion a bit
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Incognito
This was very interesting. I've been reading about this time under tension and have even been implementing it the last few months. But I dont feel the burn. I'm going back to what these guys are saying to do. These videos are great and entertaining too.
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This was very interesting. I've been reading about this time under tension and have even been implementing it the last few months. But I dont feel the burn. I'm going back to what these guys are saying to do. These videos are great and entertaining too.
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Hadi
Well fast reps stimulate fast twitch muscle fibers which lead to more muscle growth, but you could acctivate them with slow controlled eccentrics for about 4 secs and explosive concentrics for about 1 sec which will also help you lift heavier weights.
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Well fast reps stimulate fast twitch muscle fibers which lead to more muscle growth, but you could acctivate them with slow controlled eccentrics for about 4 secs and explosive concentrics for about 1 sec which will also help you lift heavier weights.
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abhijit
Though Ronnie is meant to make us laugh and teach the common mistakes but in real life he has an awesome physique better than most of us. I believe Ronnie can be a great fitness coach.
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Though Ronnie is meant to make us laugh and teach the common mistakes but in real life he has an awesome physique better than most of us. I believe Ronnie can be a great fitness coach.
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