Lifting weights extremely slow

[Distant_Shores]

Lifting weights extremely slow <----- I'm trying it and find that it really helps workout the entire muscle. Some people go to fast and are simply using momentum and that can cause injury.

 

[2Bhumble]

Yes, good form is very important. A full range of motion with smooth controlled reps is the ticket. It's honest hard work. Going super slow is tough and requires much less weight. Using momentum shows you're not really strong enough to lift the weight you've put on the bar and an invitation to injury. I've seen too many guys arch their backs, squirm and push up with their feet while bench pressing just to stroke their egos. Or squat (IF they squat) with a 3 inch range of motion while doing 1 second up/down rep speed just so they can have 2 big plates on each side of the bar. Sorry, just had to rant.

 

[mbotz72]

good idea! Most of the time when I lift, I just do it fast so that I can feel stronger with more weight, but lately I like to lift less weight, more repetitions and do the last few in each set really slow.

 

[Wroth]

There are advantages to this and of course, disadvantages.

Lifting slow gives you muscle mass. Lifting fast gives you muscle power.

Now what I mean by power is the ability to exert the same amount of force at high speed, delivering power. This is what you want in sports and in all reality, in real life.

Lifting slow really only trains your muscles at that speed. They cannot generally apply that force at a higher speed simply because they never have. Your muscles gain mass, yes, but they don't get "power" per-say.

This is something that is extensively studied and applied in professional sports - they all train "explosively" for a reason - when they need that strength, they need it NOW. This is something I've always been taught and still learn about every time I go workout with my team's trainers. Speed and form are what are important to develop "usefull" strength.

As one of my coaches once said, he'd rather take a punch from a juiced-up gym monkey than from a powerlifter or an athlete. Why? Simple physics pretty much. Momentum = mass x speed. Higher speeds that the contact is made at will have more momentum and hurt a heck of a lot more.

I personally do not lift slow. It has no application to what I do. I never will move my arm at painstakingly slow speeds. I will, however, move my arm at high speeds playing sports. Heck, in everyday application I will move my arm at a higher speed than what "slow-lifters" do in the gym. Why train at a speed I will never use.

And as to the ego thing - pretty much wrong. Those of us with proper form and explosiveness do not load up the plates to stoke our ego. We load them up to get a full workout and to tire out our arms. I work my arms to exhaustion with explosive reps whenever I bench. And I see improvements rapidly - I get stronger, more stable, and more solid.

The "slow-lifters" are doing it to tear more muscle during the exercise so that when it heals, it gets larger than it would. Now that would be stoking the ego in my opinion.

(I'm going to come back to this tomorrow and make sure I made sense writing it. I think I did... but hey... it's 5am here. )

 

[Greenriser]

i think the idea from what wroth said, is, u need power to increase your weight

 

[Greenriser]

another thing to keep in mind, is to only move up a weight once you can do 15 repetitions slow, and easily.

 

[Greenriser]

women who want to be slenderer show move the weight quicker, and to use a lighter weight

 

[fitmom]

Yes, good form is very important. A full range of motion with smooth controlled reps is the ticket. It's honest hard work. Going super slow is tough and requires much less weight. Using momentum shows you're not really strong enough to lift the weight you've put on the bar and an invitation to injury. I've seen too many guys arch their backs, squirm and push up with their feet while bench pressing just to stroke their egos. Or squat (IF they squat) with a 3 inch range of motion while doing 1 second up/down rep speed just so they can have 2 big plates on each side of the bar. Sorry, just had to rant.

This post rocks! NEVER use momentum! NO mometum PLEASE! A rep. for 2B. J

 

[2Bhumble]

And as to the ego thing - pretty much wrong. Those of us with proper form and explosiveness do not load up the plates to stoke our ego.

I'm talking about the guys who put on too much weight (ego? impatience?) to have proper form and open themselves up to injury. Nothing wrong with explosiveness and power - everything wrong with improper form. I personally don't lift slow either.

 

[fitmom]

I'm talking about the guys who put on too much weight (ego? impatience?) to have proper form and open themselves up to injury. Nothing wrong with explosiveness and power - everything wrong with improper form. I personally don't lift slow either.

Ya, the guys who grunt a make a lot of primitave noises, in order to enhance there fireworks of testosterone display, these are the guys we speak of here.......

 

[Wroth]

LOL. That would be any athlete then.

It's a bit of a mental thing - one of my coaches' things was to use sound effects when lifting - "BAM!" "BOOM!" "BANG!" in your head. That eventually morphs into explosive release of breath during the lift. Then that morphs into actual sounds. Then you get the grunts.

During games it actually helps. The explosive breath, the sound effects, the grunts - they all help remind your body of form and the explosiveness that you've trained your body with.

It has nothing to do with "enhancing their fireworks of testosterone display".

I just remembered this too - ask a martial-artist why they yell during their motions. Helps them focus and is a reminder to your body to use everything you got, even sound.

 

[Tenken]

I think it's a good way to release carbon dioxide from your body when yelling and screaming while you're exerting energy, nothing to do with ego though. It gives me more power from doing so, then being silent

 

[fitmom]

LOL. That would be any athlete then.

It's a bit of a mental thing - one of my coaches' things was to use sound effects when lifting - "BAM!" "BOOM!" "BANG!" in your head. That eventually morphs into explosive release of breath during the lift. Then that morphs into actual sounds. Then you get the grunts.

During games it actually helps. The explosive breath, the sound effects, the grunts - they all help remind your body of form and the explosiveness that you've trained your body with.

It has nothing to do with "enhancing their fireworks of testosterone display".

I just remembered this too - ask a martial-artist why they yell during their motions. Helps them focus and is a reminder to your body to use everything you got, even sound.

Believe me, I am not referring to athletes!

 

[fallen^sparrow]

Ever watch women's professional tennis? ... now there's alot of grunting. Strange how professional women golfers are so quiet though; that or the networks just turn off the mics while their in the teebox.

fallen^sparrow

 

[retooferab]

You drove me to distraction, fallensparrow! Those grunting tennis ladies make my socks roll up and down!

And not grunting in golf is one of those things that makes you go, "hmmm." Whenever I swing hard enough in golf to grunt, I'm lucky to make contact with the ball at all... which makes sense in a way. But accuracy of movement is important in tennis, too, so... hmmmm.

Oops, went off topic there. (Told you I was distracted!)
I've heard some advantages to the super-slo-mo lifting, but choose not to do that for my purposes. Maximum athleticism for me, thanks.

 

[RMB62]

You will never engage the amount of muscle used in faster lifting by slow lifting. The way your muscles are made up, work, and are used, your not engaging the maximum amount possible by lifting slow.

 

[Tenken]

I think u can get more muscle tone by lifting slow and in a controlled manner

 

[Wroth]

Not really Tenken. To get muscle tone you use lots of reps at a lower weight. The get pure mass you lift slowly.

And I think it goes without saying that we are lifting in a controller manner, even when we go fast.

 

[Dak man]

Form is more important than pure weight. I just try to find the right wieght to where after 12 reps I literally cant do anymore, but keep good form and full range.

One of the most ripped guys at my gym is different though. I life more wieght than him, but he keeps it to a VERY small range of motion and moves the weight very very slowly.

 

[Wroth]

One of the most ripped guys at my gym is different though. I life more wieght than him, but he keeps it to a VERY small range of motion and moves the weight very very slowly.

Haven't I been saying all along that slow = muscle mass?