Whats tempo?
For those of you unfamiliar with tempo, its the length of time you should spend per rep during each phase of a lift. These phases being: Eccentric – the “negative” or yielding action in many instances, regarded as the lowering portion of a rep Pause I – this first pause, if any pause at all, occurs between the eccentric and concentric phases Concentric – the lifting or overcoming action portion of the rep Pause II – this second pause, if any pause at all, occurs before starting the next rep The numerical representation, when included in training plans, is generally as follows: 3111 This means 3 seconds of eccentric contraction, 1 second pause I, 1 second concentric contraction, and 1 second pause II. Youll find that more times than not, the nomenclature for a specific tempo is not included in training plans. When this is the case, your best bet is to follow the simple rule of thumb of performing a controlled eccentric phase (taking 1-2 seconds) followed by the concentric phase which is
