Why tempo is important

Tempo Training Revisited
Another look at how the science of speed of contraction can increase the effectiveness of your workouts

by Charles Poliquin
One aspect of my training programs that distinguishes them from the conventional workouts of other strength coaches is that I focus on precisely controlling all aspects of the tempo prescription. I accomplish this by defining the exact amount of muscular stimulus during the concentric, isometric and eccentric contractions of every repetition. I consider it vital to address tempo as a loading parameter in all my workouts; here’s how I do it.

Let’s start with some definitions. Speed of contraction refers to the rate of movement of the implement or limb involved in any given strength exercise. In sport science circles, it is normally described or measured in terms of degrees per second. For simplicity, I measure speed of contraction as the amount of time it takes to complete each phase of a repetition. I use the term tempo collectively to describe the total amount of time it takes to complete an entire repetition.

When I first started prescribing strength training programs, I encountered the problem that simply prescribing a specific number of repetitions for a set does not ensure that the appropriate stimulus is being applied. For example, back then if I told two athletes to perform a dumbbell row for 10 reps, one athlete might perform each repetition slowly and finish the set in 45 seconds, whereas the other athlete might perform the exercise as though they were trying to start a lawnmower and finish the set in 8.2 seconds before dropping the weight to the floor. Such variations made it difficult for me to determine the effectiveness of my workouts, as obviously each athlete was receiving a different training stimulus despite performing the same number of reps.

My interest in manipulating the speed of contraction of exercises was heightened in the early ’80s after I spent a day with German strength experts Rolf Feser and Lothar Spitz. During our discussions, they explained how athletes not only need to perform explosive ballistic contractions to create central nervous adaptations but also need to use other types of training protocols to create muscular adaptations. Also at that time Pierre Roy, a national weightlifting coach in Canada, told me he was using five-second eccentric contractions for sets of six when he wanted one of his lifters to gain size in preparatory training periods.


Olympic weightlifting champion David Rigert of Russia broke 68 world records. He was coached by Michael Rudolf Plugfelder, who was a proponent of varying the tempo prescription for strength enhancement. Photo by Bruce Klemens.
There were also the writings of Soviet lifting coach Michael Rudolf Plugfelder, who had trained Olympic weightlifting champions Vasily Alexeev and David Rigert. Alexeev was the first man to clean and jerk 500 pounds, and he broke 80 world records. Rigert started training with Plugfelder in 1969, set his first world record in 1971 and went on to break 68 world records and win Olympic gold. Plugfelder was also a proponent of varying the tempo for strength enhancement, and his ideas were supported by Professor Alexei Medvedev, head coach of the Russian weightlifting team.

As I evolved as a strength coach, I came across many weightlifting coaches from the Eastern Bloc who all believed in varying the speed of contraction, whether they were Hungarian, Polish, East German or Romanian. One problem, however, was that researchers often were aiming to find one precise – “ideal” – tempo prescription. For example, Soviet researchers S.I. Lelikov and N.N. Saxanov published a paper in 1976 entitled “The Rate of Increase in Leg Strength Depending on the Tempo of Performing Squats.” The purpose of the four-month-long study, which involved 32 subjects of various strength levels, was to determine the best tempo prescription for increasing strength in the back squat.

In introducing the purpose of the study, the authors noted, “There is no experimental research in either the weightlifting literature (or for other types of sports, for that matter) dealing with a comparative analysis of whether a fast, moderate, or slow tempo of performing exercises, under the natural conditions of training, is the most effective means for increasing strength.” Incidentally, one result of the study was that the group that trained using a moderate tempo achieved the best improvement in strength gains.

While the authors are to be commended for recognizing the importance of manipulating the speed of contraction of repetitions, we have to be careful about inferring practical information from this study. Let me explain with an analogy.

Many sport scientists, particularly in the US, have tried to find “the one” precise combination of sets and reps to produce the best gains in strength. They would compare, for example, a protocol of 10 reps for three sets to a protocol of five sets of five reps. Instead, as Dr. Mike Stone and his colleagues did in the late ’70s, they should have been experimenting with workouts that varied set/rep protocols over the duration of the study. The truth is that there is no one single, perfect, “best” speed-of-contraction protocol. In the Soviet study, it would have been interesting to have one of the experimental groups perform a slow speed of contraction for the first half of the experiment, and then a fast speed of contraction for the second half (again, a system that Pierre Roy used with much success).

When designing tempo prescriptions, there are some general guidelines you can follow that are backed by sport science. Slow-speed lifting brings about more metabolic adaptations than high-speed lifting. High-intensity, slow-speed training using isokinetic loading is also associated with increases in muscle glycogen, CP, ATP, ADP, creatine, phosphorylase, PFK, and Krebs cycle enzyme activity. Training at faster speeds does not induce these changes. Also, slow reps build the connection between the mind and the muscle, and they make a great finishing-off set.

Unlocking the Tempo Code
By the early ’80s I was prescribing a two-digit, two-letter tempo formula in my workout programs that specified the time for concentric and eccentric contractions. For example, I would write 1C:4E, meaning a one-second concentric contraction and a four-second eccentric contraction. Australian strength coach Ian King further refined the formula by adding a third number to indicate the isometric contraction, such as 421, which could have meant for a bench press that you would lower the bar to your chest in four seconds, pause for two seconds with the bar on the chest, and then press it to extended arms in one second. However, it did not specify where the pause was taken: at the disadvantageous part or the advantageous part.

So I took it one step further with a four-digit formula that allows you to determine where where the pause took place. For example, 4212 means you would lower the barbell in four seconds, pause for two seconds at the chest, raise the bar in one second, and then pause for two seconds with the bar at extended arms before beginning the next rep.

Many of you may have seen this formula before, but it deserves a more detailed explanation again for any coaches or athletes who are confused. In fact, I recently came across a popular strength training certification program that referenced my work but prescribed bizarre three-digit protocols such as “XXX for the power clean” (more on this nonsense later). Obviously, the writers of this certification did not attend any of my PICP courses. The formula that should be used is broken down as follows:

The first number refers to the eccentric part of the exercise. An eccentric contraction occurs when a muscle lengthens, such as when you lower the resistance during the descent of the squat. Eccentric training is often neglected by American strength coaches, to the detriment of their strength training programs. In fact, research by renowned biomechanist Tom McLaughlin showed that the most successful powerlifters are the ones who have the best control of the load eccentrically.

The second number refers to the isometric pause in the stretched position. This pause usually occurs between the eccentric (lowering) phase and the concentric (lifting) phase of a repetition, such as when the barbell makes contact with the chest during the bench press. Pauses in the “disadvantageous” position (i.e., poor leverage) of a lift, such as the bottom position of a squat, increase intramuscular tension, which can further boost strength development.

The third number refers to the concentric contraction. The concentric contraction occurs when a muscle shortens, such as when you curl a barbell to your shoulders. If X is used in the formula, it implies explosive action with full acceleration. Obviously, it would be dangerous to use X for the eccentric contraction of exercises such as squats and bench presses, so you will only see the X used as the third number in my prescriptions. Likewise, using an “XXX” prescription for a power clean, such as recommended in that misguided strength coaching certification, would suggest that the athlete would pull the weight off the floor as fast as possible, bounce it off their shoulders and then slam it to the floor – not exactly a safe training recommendation.

The fourth number refers to the isometric pause in the shortened position. This is the type of contraction that occurs at the end of the concentric phase, such as when a bench press is locked out. Pauses in this “advantageous” position (i.e., good leverage) also increase the recruitment of more fast-twitch fibers, which are the fibers that will provide the most increases in strength and power. In my early years as a strength coach I used a three-digit formula that ignored this pause, but I eventually concluded that it is essential in the formula to determine the precise training stimulus.

Putting it together, a 4213 tempo prescription for the bench press would mean you would lower the barbell to your chest in four seconds, pause for two seconds when the bar makes contact with your chest, press the weight to extended arms in one second, then rest three seconds when the barbell is locked out before performing another repetition.

Of all loading parameters that can be manipulated in program design for resistance training, speed of contraction is probably the most misunderstood and neglected aspects of training. But if you master the application of tempo prescription, you will enjoy greater control of your program, which will in turn bring faster and greater gains in strength and muscle development.