Rep speed for Maximum Hyprotrophy!?

[GrandmasterSpank]

Just wondering how fast you guys perform your repetitions, specifically when you looking to maximise hypertrophy/mass gain? (I.e. How much time is spend on the positive, negative, and also the contraction in each rep.)

I'm currently spending about 1-2 seconds on the positive, 0.5-1 second on the contraction, and about 3 secs lowering the weight for most exercises.

I'd like to know what sort of speed the rest of you guys use, and why?

Cheers y'all!

[youngerlion]

i believe this varies as u have noted from individual to individual. Maximum contraction is achieved by fatiguing your individual muscle group and then giving your body ample time enough to recover with new muscle tissue to compensate. you should not work out with a time period or rep number as your only motivation. your goal is to work your muscle as hard as you can ( well at least mine is) and that varies from exercise to exercise for me.

[GrandmasterSpank]

i believe this varies as u have noted from individual to individual. Maximum contraction is achieved by fatiguing your individual muscle group and then giving your body ample time enough to recover with new muscle tissue to compensate. you should not work out with a time period or rep number as your only motivation. your goal is to work your muscle as hard as you can ( well at least mine is) and that varies from exercise to exercise for me.

Thanks for the reply younglion, always appreciated. Just that I'm not sure you understood quite what I was asking. - I was isolating one variable of training, and asking what most people prefer doing with it. Obviously, I pay equal attention to number of sets, number of reps, rest between sets and everything else but the kitchen sink. I was just wondering what sort of cadence (rep speed) most people prefer using to work the muscle fibres optimally, and specifically for growth...

...any takers!? Thanks again!

[GrandmasterSpank]

Bumping my shizzit.....

[MuscleScience]

F=ma

[GrandmasterSpank]

F=ma

Say what!? Lol

[MuscleScience]

Force=mass x acceleration.

Newtons Second Law

[GrandmasterSpank]

Force=mass x acceleration.

Newtons Second Law

Okay, I get the equation. - One could choose to either lift heavier weights quicker or lighter weights slower, with the total amount of force applied in each scenario being the same...

E.g.
40kg @ Tempo 1/0/1
OR
20Kg @ Tempo 2/0/2
OR
10Kg @ Tempo 4/0/4 .............Total force being equal in each case.

Still, it doesn't answer the question. - The question is which would be optimal for stimulating the most muscle growth???

...now where did I put that chocolate teapot!?

'Anyone' going to chime in with an 'actual answer' here?

[MuscleScience]

My opinion based on the scientific literature is that go heavy or go home for maximum hypertrophy. There is a force optimum, meaning there is a certain weight that you can lift at a maximal speed that may actually require more force to move against the force of gravity. Even if your lifting a heavier weight, if you lift it to slowly, you may actually not need to produce at much force as say the light weight which you can move faster.

A good example is a bowling ball, if you can throw a 15lbs bowling ball with more acceleration than a 16 lbs ball, you may in-fact be able to cause that 15lbs ball to move with more force than a 16 lbs ball.

I hope that makes sense.

[MuscleScience]

Oh and for any physics nerds out there, I know I am not using proper terminology its easy to explain this way, kinda....LOL

[higherdesire]

As for speed I like to take between 45 and 60 seconds on a normal ten rep set. I do this because I concentrate on my form for both the pos and neg. I am a form freak. I believe that the more controlled the lift the better the nreak down. Fuller break down I guess. I will get super slow on megatives form time to time but not often. i have notices over the years that I respond better to a steady controlled movement. No swinging or speed involved ever.

I have no science behind it other than my belief and y results.

[xnotoriousx]

yo get of my avi son lol

[BrokenBricks]

Oh and for any physics nerds out there, I know I am not using proper terminology its easy to explain this way, kinda....LOL

Force = mass * acceleration

The mass is constant, being the weight you lift. Lifting a weight quickly from rest means you have accelerated the weight. The more quickly you do it the more force you must apply.

This is why your contraction should be as energetic as possible.

"Work" is the amount of force you exert multiplied by the distance over which you exert that force.

The word "power" has a specific meaning also. Work divided by time is power.
So the shorter the period of time it takes you to do a given amount of work the more power you have generated.

Increasing power requires increasing muscle girth. So you see anyone who does a lot quickly with large muscles. Work, on the other hand, does not require large muscle diameter to improve. Work is not related to the speed you generate force, but the distance the force is applied over. So a marathon runner does a *tremendous* amount of work, much more than a power lifter, but he does not need large muscles to do it.

[MuscleScience]

Force = mass * acceleration

The mass is constant, being the weight you lift. Lifting a weight quickly from rest means you have accelerated the weight. The more quickly you do it the more force you must apply.

This is why your contraction should be as energetic as possible.

"Work" is the amount of force you exert multiplied by the distance over which you exert that force.

The word "power" has a specific meaning also. Work divided by time is power.
So the shorter the period of time it takes you to do a given amount of work the more power you have generated.

Increasing power requires increasing muscle girth. So you see anyone who does a lot quickly with large muscles. Work, on the other hand, does not require large muscle diameter to improve. Work is not related to the speed you generate force, but the distance the force is applied over. So a marathon runner does a *tremendous* amount of work, much more than a power lifter, but he does not need large muscles to do it.

I put a disclaimer in there, this isn't physics class doc.

Also increase in power production is not entirely dependent on muscle girth.

Almost forgot, good post...

[quarry206]

though all these answers look good on paper. the truth is there is no real answer, everybody is different. there has never been a proven answer that one is better than the other or that one thing works on everybody..

power does not equal muslce size, nor does bar speed equal hypertrophy... hypertrophy is changed more by your rest/work ratio more than any other factor.. i you are going slow with the reps or fast does not change muscle growth. though i will add science has shown that negitives cause injury not growth.

[FireGuy]

though all these answers look good on paper. the truth is there is no real answer, everybody is different. there has never been a proven answer that one is better than the other or that one thing works on everybody..

power does not equal muslce size, nor does bar speed equal hypertrophy... hypertrophy is changed more by your rest/work ratio more than any other factor.. i you are going slow with the reps or fast does not change muscle growth. though i will add science has shown that negitives cause injury not growth.

Injury or damage to your muscle fibers is what causes growth. Anyways, I do agree with the majority of your statement. I think establishing the mind/muscle connection and focusing on the contraction is as, or more important than the tempo in which the reps are performed. I prefer slow, steady and controlled movements for most of my work.

[BrokenBricks]

I put a disclaimer in there, this isn't physics class doc.

Also increase in power production is not entirely dependent on muscle girth.

Almost forgot, good post...

You are right, but girth sets an upper limit. Ultimately there is a certain amount of force a given myosin/actin interface is capable of generating. No amount of conditioning is going to let that myosin actin junction exceed a level of force production proportional to the intrinsic force the myosin conformational change generates.

[quarry206]

Injury or damage to your muscle fibers is what causes growth. Anyways, I do agree with the majority of your statement. I think establishing the mind/muscle connection and focusing on the contraction is as, or more important than the tempo in which the reps are performed. I prefer slow, steady and controlled movements for most of my work.

i was refering to the damage ad injury in the tendons and joints, not the muscle itself

[FireGuy]

i was refering to the damage ad injury in the tendons and joints, not the muscle itself

I thought thats what you were referring to. There was a thread awhile back on negative training and I was able to find quite a few studies which were contradictory to each other on the effects the negative portion of a movement has on hypertrophy. Some showed results where the contraction was more effecient while others showed the negative to be more responsible. I think the jury is still out on this one.

[melloboi]

take it this way the 1 RM test for the highest strength and conditioning institutions require an explosive movement. so for power movements i recommend a pretty high velocity in shifting resistance. for hypertrophy i would just keep it equal speeds, so moderate speed on the negative and same moderate speed on the positive, unless as i previousley stated you want to be dynamic in your lifting, then go for moderate down, fast up!! hope this helps

[in2shape]

personally i do a 0.5-1 sec up phase (pos) and 4 sec lowering (neg ) phase .... have you tried just negative training b4 on all your major lifts ?? you will need 1 or 2 training buddies tho eg you lower the barbell for a 5-6 count neg phase they lift up then repeat 4 desired reps , you get extremely sore (doms- delayed onset of muscle soreness) but its great 4 mass and 4 breaking plateaus .......

also i think you have to remember it all comes down to time under tention !!!!! eg in a chest press barbell) you lower slowly dont bounce of chest as this will disengage chest momentarily then forcing/pushing the weight up still under tention here) then NOT locking out out top of movement as again this will disengage chest, try it you will be quiet surprised if you are strict on the method i just wrote above dont lock elbows , dont nounce of chest , dont rotate shoulders foreard and bridge your chest up keeping barbell 2-3 cms off chest .....

goodluck let me know how you went