Slow Reps vs Fast Reps for Muscle Growth 

You get the greatest gains by screaming and dropping weights at Planet Fitness.

First step: go to gym

Congratulations, the content is great but also the presentation and production of your videos is way better then those of similar channels . You are going the long distance that’s for sure. Kudos , Jeremy.

Going with 1 second/free fall eccentric reps you will notice your reps/weight increase every day or week. However, I slowed down the eccentric portion to 2-3 seconds and progression stopped like a rock. However, I noticed that my muscles started to hypertrophy and they were noticeably bigger even though I was using much lower weight and was progressing maybe 2 reps every 2 weeks compared to 1 rep per day.

Im in between not too fast n slow

you are the only one I like your video before watching

I believe the current consensus is that you should complement a very fast concentric (high power) with a very slow eccentric (long time under tension). Best of both worlds.

Your recommendation on being explosive for eccentric and slower on concentric seems to be the school of thought from several folks that I know in the business.

Very useful sir! I like that you cited your sources to back what you were saying. Made it more objective. Thank you!

Found the the the best RU-vid channel ❤️

Thanks Jeremy for the interesting info. If i may ask, would it be possible to make a video on how to perform deadlift like technique, reps and how often in a week. Any info on how beginners should approach this exercise would be much appreciated.

Finally. Explanations based on science. Thank you! Thank you!

The biggest benefit of a slower lifting tempo's the increased control when performing the excercise. Having that in mind, you shouldn't sacrifice load when slowing down the tempo. What usually happens when people increase their tempo(Having really fast movements) is that their weights can increase but they'll usually sacrifice form. The concentrics of a rep should almost always be fast and explosive though. From what I've seen only the eccentric parts should be slower. A 1 sec concentric with a 2-3 second excentric motion seems to be really good for increasing muscle growth. Edit: Wrote this comment halfway into the video and you're basically saying the same thing I'm thinking :)

I'd also add to consider any injuries you have when playing with rep tempo.

You’re the man. You have helped me get a lot of gains!

This is what I like to see. Videos backed up by actual research.

Very good-if not best- overview of the subject with some good insightful and practical advice to end. Suscribed!!!

this guy's videos are amazing

If you are a beginner I would recommend a slower and more controlled tempo. I see a lot of newbies in the gym benching fast without much control. That fucks up your shit esp when newbies try to ego lift heavy. Slow helps you focus on your technique and stabilizer muscles, even if you don’t build as much muscle quickly. You can lift faster later when you can still hold control over a fast pace.

I really enjoyed your video and how you include studies!

Really enjoying your videos. Informative and backed by science.

Every body reacts differently. Personally, I find 2-3 seconds eccentric, pause half a second, fast concentric, pause half a second, repeat... each set done 1-2 reps close to failure.

Do a leg video. Enjoy your videos

i love your channel ,man

Nicely done and greatly appreciated for the tips.

Thanks. You helped clarify a lot of confusion for me.

Helpful as always.

Great video, very helpful

Thanks! This is very helpful and informative. Keep it up!

One other benefit of lifting slow is, you can concentrate and target the muscle you want to train much more easier.

Thanks for the video! Please make a video on drop sets.

I was thinking 1-2 seconds up, then slower on the way down, so that seems about right. I often use weights that are quite light, so to speed things up there I do very slow negatives, since that's the most important part of building muscle it seems, compared to holding it at the difficult part for some amount of seconds and then doing the negative like I used to do to speed things up.

Wow, I was doing it wrong. I'd do heavy slow, medium fast, and light not at all. Educational

Great video again. Thanks

Great videos man! Thanks for it, but one thing comes to my mind and it must be said: have you ever seen czech tennis player Lukas Rosol? You look like his carbon copy, it is incredible :)

Tremendous video as always brother.

Excellent video and tips as always.

Finally ....ask you one question..gym equipments can do fast or slow...?

The answer: you do both! Fast when you raise and slow when you lower.

Bench press activates several muscles. Slowing the reps down would increase the activation of the muscles starting the lift (predominantly arms). I would also question the effectiveness of slow vs fast reps on excercises the isolate one muscle.

thank you for the knowledge

Thanks to you, I know how to train properly. Great job.

Very informative.. thanks.

thanks for the video friend

Im guessing the answer as to do with simple forces, force=mass x acceleration and is acting against gravity, in order to maximize this I would think it best to try and keep a constant acceleration of the weights upwards (as oppose to constant velocity). While work done will be the same either way as work is force x distance the shorter amount of time its done in the more force (tension) you muscles will be under at any one point in time, as long as you dont let momentum take over that is..

I’m a person that follows directions of my coach he always said happy medium but always better to go slow I’m toned but thin

Awnser: Both I personally do a full body workout every other day, swapping between my intense fast lifting speed (1ish sec up and down) and my slowish speed (1~2 up, 3~4 down) I started doing this a year ago after a few years of wasted time and ever since I started I went from 165 with about 15% bf to 190 with about 12% bf so please... Do what I do. If you just go slow then you'll gain strength and size but you'll tire quickly. If you just go fast then your stamina and strength will be great but your size gains will suffer..its a happy medium~ I'm hella fast and hella strong so yeah just copy me ;3

Hey man, what would you say is the best workout routine for a beginner? Love the vids btw!

I completely agree with your conclusion

Third

That was a surprisingly well researched and helpful video. Thank you.

Fast are good right?

He'll say both( I havent watched yet) Edit:I was wrong

i was told that fast reps can cause joint problems. and if i don't have good joints i cant smoke weed.

So basically: lift fast, drop slower.

Heavy weight Fast up. Slow down. Easy as that

"From do you even lift, bro? " to "Do you even research, bro?" Nice channel, good vid. Keep it up.

Note Taken: go ultra instinct at the gym

If you look closely, the video starts at 0:00

IM LEARNING!!!

*"Not my fucking tempo!"*

Thanks for watching guys! Hopefully this helps you out without overcomplicating things. If you could do me a big favour by following me on Instagram (instagram.com/jayethierfit/ ) I’d really appreciate it. On there I do polls for what video topics I should cover next, so the more of you there is to provide feedback the better! And as always, let me know in the comments below if you have any questions - I try my best to answer all the questions I come across. Cheers!

3:57 That's not heavyweight. That's LIGHTWEIGHT BABYYYY!!!

As an actual scientist who only recently started working out seriously, I really, really appreciate your videos. I very much like how your advice is centered on what research suggests is ideal, and not so much on personal experience which tends to vary quite a bit person to person. Thank you so much for the effort you're putting into making these :)

Isolation exercises: slow and controlled Compound exercises: fast and explosive

"Your muscles can't count how many reps You do, they only FEEL the burn"

Phil Heath: "It doesn't matter how much weight you can do. It matters how well you can control the weight". This quote goes hand in hand with this tutorial.

*fast reps leads to faster muscle growth* Now thank me for saving your time.

Why is this in my recommended a year late... come on RU-vid. Pick up your GAINS

The main benefit I find with fast reps is explosive power. So for athletic purposes you can perform better.

Jeremy, your videos be extremely helpful. Thanks, buddy!💪👍👍

I have been lifting for over 15 years starting at 40. Prior to lifting I trained in Pilates for 5 years to understand my body and acquire proper technique. I have done both heavy and fast lifting as well as TUT (which should be seen as Time Under Engagement, as no one wants tension during lifting, it leads to injury) and I did get bigger faster with heavy and fast lifting in the first 10 years of lifting. However, if you are not in perk condition, with a good understanding of your body and proper technique, fast lifting of heavy weight stains the body in ways the encourages very poor technique which eventual leads to injury. I see this endlessly at the gym, guys rushing through reps without proper form or clear technique and you can literally see the person on the verge of injury. After 10 years of fast and heavy lifting I ended it because of one injury after another. I chose instead to lower the weight, up the reps and add more time under engagement (my up time is 2 seconds, while my down is between 3 to 5 seconds). The results in the last 5 years have been astonishing, my injuries have dropped off to nearly nothing which means I can lift regularly. Combined with calisthenics I maintain my aerobic fitness and strength while also improving my overall body flexibility and conditioning (I look leaner and more ripped than when I was chasing higher lifts). I stand 5’ 10”, weigh 160 lbs, and during regular training my one rep bench press is 220 lbs, while my body fat is between 12% to 15%. When I choose to get into perk shape I do 5 days of 650 calisthenics reps a day (100 pull ups, 100 dips, 100 push ups, 150 body weight squats and 200 legs lifts, done either in a single go or throughout the day) take 3 days off and do another 5 days. My body weight usually remains the same but my one rep bench can go as high as 250 lbs and my fat percentage drops to between 8% and 10% depending on how closely I watch my carbs, my overall rip is amazing. If you have good form and great teachers and spotters to improve or correct your technique then heavy and fast lifting is a good route to go in the short run especially if you are looking to increase size fast. Yet if you want lift for life or be lifting at my age I highly recommended following the adage, “slow and steady wins the race!” I am now learning floor acrobatics (Acro-Yoga) to push my own physical limits of balance, strength, flexibility and engagement as well as connecting my body to another human on the same path to self discovery. Admittedly 15 years of aikido training made transitioning to acrobatics even in my 50’s fairly seamless but if I had held to only heavy and fast lifting I wouldn’t be in the physical shape required to do it. Different goals require different approaches! Safe Lifting!!

As much as I agree with these findings, they keep changing with time because they are heavily influenced by the test subjects used. The body does not understand weights. It understands stimulus. If you are reacting well with a slow lifting pattern then all is well and good. For me, I mix things up to make sure I do not get used to the same type of training. It makes things challenging and interesting. I will also use drop sets, high rep training, supersets and a combination of all. Test it out yourself.

Between you and Jeff Nippard I barely watch other fitness RU-vidrs anymore. I love how both of you pull actual studies to show the real science behind everything you say. You completely eliminate bro science from your videos and I really feel like I'm getting better results applying the tips you guys give. Great channel. Keep it up

fast concentric slow eccentric... literally the first concept you learn as a kinesiology major lol

If you're at home, use slow tempo. In this video study, the weights varied greatly between slow tempo using lower weights and fast tempo using higher weights. If you don't have much variance of weights (at home, calisthenics, etc) and the max weight you have available is too easy to rep out fast (15+ reps), then you should take the slower tempo approach and your reps with decrease. You'll then be able to overcome the plateau you've hit (if you don't have access to a fully equipped gym)

Fairly certain the reason you see less size growth in slower tempos is that you're using a higher proportion of slow-twitch fibers (type I) which are smaller, have greater blood vessel perfusion (oxidative), and are meant for endurance. Fast twitch fibers (of which you have type IIa oxidative/intermediate and type IIb glycolytic/explosive) are bulkier and can produce higher power outputs, but fatigue faster. Round about 2:02 he mentions that it doesn't activate the type II fibers but doesn't really talk about it afterwards. This is why if you would be better served doing faster reps, higher weights, and plyometrics if your sole aim is to build size, since this is what targets the larger type II fibers. If your goal is endurance you should go for lower weights and higher rep schemes with slower reps. Doing a bit of both is important for overall athletic balance.

When doing fast reps the muscle gets more load as the weight becomes heavier the faster you try to move it due to inertia. The amount of weight you do excercises with is almost irrelevant to the actual weight you lift as it truly depends on the speed.

So let me make sure I got this right. A one second explosive concentric contraction followed by a controlled perhaps 2-3 second eccentric?

Your back looks damn good!!! Thanks for the video.

Really, really good stuff. A video that encompasses optimal workout/rest frequency as well as de-load weeks would be great!

Another banger !

Theres a big difference here? faster but right technical motion dims far better for toning plus calories burnt

Can you do a workout for increasing vertical jump?

Another excellent video, thanks for being so consistent

Activation of the chest was REDUCED when lifting slower? I call bullshit on that. The only way I feel my chest when benching is when I lift slow and controlled and I know I’m not the only one.

The muscle aches and pain during training time under tension are unbelievable, when you control your weight and combine the two (3/4 super slow reps 7/8 normal speed reps) you will see why there is even a confusion between doing the two Look at Dennis James He swears by this technique for his clients even though he missed out on implementing this throughout his early career. Try both in the same workout You will understand.

whoever just want to know the conclusion of this debate without wasting time go through the whole video The answer base on this video is : Fast Reps

Makes no sense they said faster tempo doesn’t help more but then study shows it’s 29% more muscle growth with fast tempo

So in conclusion - do the reps in a normal way, with weight that enables you to do the technique perfectly.

Did some of my own research and came to the same conclusion that "purposefully slow" (PS) training underperforms. Went back and watched some HS physics videos and thought about it: since F=ma, you have to generate more force at *some* part of the lift (compared to PS) to generate speed, but at some other part you have to decelerate so the bar doesn't fly into the air! Since gravity does that work for you, you're kind of "borrowing momentum" later in the rep. Maybe it could be a way to create custom strength curves? Hope you end up doing the research you mentioned!

Your muscle grows when you watch prom on the internet

The answer is Form it don't matter how fast or slow you're going it's all about form

I feel like when you’re not lifting all slow and perfect how everyone tells you too and just bang em out like a crackhead you gain more strength and muscle

Imo slow tempo is best for early lifting to train your muscles that are severely underused, helping with learning control of certain muscle groups. Form is the most important thing in lifting and novice lifters, imo, benefit a great deal more from a slower lift tempo until you have solid overall muscle mass/control over whatever it is you're lifting

I just want to know which one is better not watch a 5 minute video

Nice video! I like how you tackle all the different variables involved in muscle building with science. As for the lifting tempo I'd say slower reps can still have their use but only for the ecentric part of a movement. Thus getting most out of the muscle damage; which is, as you covered, one of the drivers of muscle growth. I personally think it's best to get most out of all the 3 stimuli for muscle growth. Where (heavy) slow ecentrics are ideal for muscle damage.

Yeah, this is bullshit. The weights in the slow training method are lighter, therefore they recruit less muscles. Not shit they'll produce less muscle growth. Either you cherry picked these studios or you have no idea what you're doing. If you're lifting the SAME weights then the speed at which you are lifting them does not matter, only the time under tension. Therefore it doesn't matter if you lift a 50 kg weight 10 times at 4s per rep or 4 times at 10s per rep. One of your studies even confirms this...

Number 10. 💪🏽✊🏽 N1. High splitted training vs lower splitted training

Slow reps increase strength while fast reps increase size.