Lift the weight, don’t throw it; and lower it, don’t drop it. Most trainees perform their reps too fast—typically taking only about one second for each phase of a rep. When doing the exercises described in this book, you should be able to stop each rep at any point, hold the weight briefly, and then continue. In an intensive set you may not be able to pause and get your target reps, depending on which rep you paused, but the idea is that you could pause as a demonstration of control.
Let rep smoothness be your guide. If your reps are smooth—including during the transition or turnaround between the positive and negative phases of each rep—you’re using the control required for safety and applying stress on the involved musculature. In practice, smooth reps typically take no faster than two to three seconds for the positive phase, and no faster than another two to three seconds for the negative phase. For the positive phase of the final rep of a tough set, when you almost grind to a halt, you may need more than five seconds.
Some exercises have longer strokes or ranges of motion than others, and thus need more seconds to show comparable control. For example, the pulldown has a greater range of motion than the press, the press has a greater range of motion than the bench press, and the bench press has a greater range of motion than the shrug.
It’s not necessary to perform reps extremely slowly. Some outlandish claims are sometimes made on behalf of extremely slow training. It’s not the best, safest, or “only” way to train. Alone, it can’t deliver all the benefits possible from exercise. Extremely slow reps aren’t even a guaranteed way to train safely. One of the most persistent injuries I’ve ever had was sustained while performing extremely slow reps. But I’ve sustained many injuries while performing reps quickly. Avoid fast reps, but there’s no need to move to the other extreme.
The first few reps of a work set don’t require the degree of effort that the final reps do. As you fatigue, you need to increase your effort level. If you apply your full effort at the start of a set, the weight will move explosively and without the smooth control required for safe training. But toward the end of a set, once you’re training hard, you’ll need to apply your full effort in order to complete the reps. Apply only as much effort as you need to complete each rep with the required control.
The use of smooth, controlled rep speed is essential for safe training. Never use fast or jerky movements.
Smooth, controlled reps can, however, be performed with correct or incorrect exercise technique. Even if a smooth, controlled rep speed is used, if it’s combined with incorrect exercise technique it will produce high-risk training.
For safe training, a smooth, controlled rep speed must be combined with correct exercise technique. Exercise technique is concerned with equipment set-up, grip, stance, body positioning, and bar pathways. Although rep speed and exercise technique are two separate issues, they are integral parts of safe training.
Some elite bodybuilders, lifters, and athletes can tolerate and even prosper on explosive training because they have the required robustness of joints, and connective tissue. But even they often pay a heavy price in terms of injuries, eventually. There’s no need to take any risk with explosive training. A slower and controlled rep speed—as promoted in this book—is much safer, and by far the best option for typical trainees. Why risk pushing your body beyond its structural limits, and possibly suffering permanent injuries, when there are safer ways to train that are highly effective?