We may not be rehabbing a muscle at ‘race pace’ but the phrase “slow and steady”' is a key aspect of regaining endurance and muscular control. Let’s quickly discover the weight of how speed influences muscle development.
First, we need to discuss how a muscle responds to any kind of loading. When you lift weights semi-frequently, the muscle cells undergo hypertrophic changes. When breaking the word into its parts, ‘hyper’ = ‘more of’ and ‘trophic’ = ‘nutrition or food’… meaning the muscle is literally gaining mass. So as you strength train, your muscle cells undergo strain which causes small amounts of tear and damage. The body reacts to the chemical signals released from the damage and builds the cell back up. This causes an increase in strength as well as physical size.
Using the knowledge of hypertrophy, lifting heavy loads increases the amount of tearing that occurs at the cellular level. Since the heavy weights are overloading the muscle cells, the body sends signals to the brain that it needs to create more muscle fibres. This is called progressive overload principle. At the same time as the cell damage is repaired, there is an increase in the amount of sarcomeres in the muscle. Both the repaired tissue and the new tissue brings on muscle bulk. This brings a whole new meaning to “getting ripped”.
When putting the muscles under small, repetitive loads, a hypertrophic response still occurs but not at the same rate of muscle growth. This is because when lifting lighter weights, there isn’t the same amount of overload on the muscles. These lighter workouts typically show signs of ‘muscle toning’ because muscle fibres will still develop and grow but don’t increase with the same bulk.
When lifting slowly, there is more tearing of the muscle cells because the movement has less momentum. This requires more muscle fibres to activate in slow tempos causing an increase in strain and muscle hypertrophy.
In short, fast concentric movements with high weight cause muscle bulk whereas slow movements with high weight causes muscular strengthening. Lifting slowly with light weight increases your muscular endurance. Check out the guideline below for strength vs bulk vs endurance.
| Sets | Reps | Tempo | Rest | Weight type |
Endurance | 1-3 | 12-20 | Slow | 0-90 sec | Very light |
Strength | 3-5 | 6-12 | Steady | 0-60 sec | Moderate |
Max Strength | 3-6 | 1-5 | Explosive | 3-5 min | Very heavy |
Ballistic power | 3-5 | 8-10 | Explosive | 3-5 min | Light |
Whether you are looking to bulk like the Hulk, increase strength, or recover from an injury, studies show that all forms of weighted exercise will make your muscles stronger and provide great health benefits.
Lift slow, lift controlled,
Dr. Cole Maranger DC
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