- Aug 14, 2018
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When it comes to weight training there are generally 2 schools of thought when it comes to exercise form. There are the typical personal trainers who say you should use slow and controlled movements. Then there are the power and strength athletes who like to use more explosive movements and looser training form.
Which one is right and which one should you use in your training?
Well...like a lot of things when it comes to working out there is no right or wrong answer. It all depends on the individual, the training situation, the level of training, and the fitness goals.
Obviously for beginners and people who are new to the gym, they need to learn how to perform the exercises with proper form using light weights. At this stage they need to get used to the whole working out process and learn how it feels to work their muscles with weight training.
But gradually as you get stronger and start lifting heavier weights in your workouts with the progressive overload principle. You’ll find that your technique will have to change as well. The technique needed to bench press 100 lbs. is totally different then the technique needed to bench press 300+ lbs. As you get stronger different muscles come into play, you need to pay a lot more attention to your set up, how you actually contract the muscles to lift, the mental preparation, etc.
If you have the opportunity to watch advanced lifters train you’ll notice that they are NOT going to be using an exaggerated slow and controlled type of exercise form. In fact lifting slow and controlled is not really natural. It doesn’t carry over into real world strength and it is not how our muscles are meant to work.
There are those die hard “fitness experts” out there who insist that slow and controlled is the only way and that if you use any speed or momentum in your lifting that you are cheating and that you are going to hurt yourself. But the fact is our bodies are designed for fast and explosive movements.
Let’s just look at some activities from real world examples. Things such as running, jumping, throwing, etc. all require speed, momentum, and explosiveness. Stand up right now and try to jump as high as you can, but do it in a slow and controlled fashion… you won’t even be able to lift off the ground.
And for a few examples from outside of sports, think of trying to pull start a lawn mower or kick start a dirt bike. You have to do both very fast and explosive or else the engine won’t get enough RPM’s to turn over and start. Bottom line is that real world stuff requires strength, speed, explosiveness, and even momentum. So why are so many people dead set against training this way in the gym?
Now...there are those individuals in the gym who like to go overboard and use too much weight with absolutely crappy form. You can see examples of this when barbell curls become reverse grip power cleans. And bench presses become a team effort push / pull exercise as the lifter drops the bar to his chest and his trusty spotter deadlifts it back up.
But there is that grey zone in the middle of the 2 extremes whereby you are training on the edge, pushing it hard, and also keeping relatively good exercise form at the same time. Powering up big weights by using a bit of “Body English” to handle such poundage's, but still maintaining pretty good form. Even through the lifts aren't “slow and controlled”, you are certainly placing maximum workload on the targeted muscle groups. This type of training will stimulate muscle growth in ways that endless slow and controlled reps with the pink dumbbells will never achieve.
These are some common exercises that work well for “Power Reps”. However, your own discretion is advised. This isn’t a free for all to go out and use crappy form. It’s just another tool in your tool box that can help you take your strength and muscular development to a higher level.
If you are going to use “Power Reps” in your training save them for the final all out work sets. Do your warm up sets using perfect form. Then as you work up to your top weight for a particular exercise you can give it that extra push to maximize the weights lifted and the stimulation to the muscles.
Which one is right and which one should you use in your training?
Well...like a lot of things when it comes to working out there is no right or wrong answer. It all depends on the individual, the training situation, the level of training, and the fitness goals.
Obviously for beginners and people who are new to the gym, they need to learn how to perform the exercises with proper form using light weights. At this stage they need to get used to the whole working out process and learn how it feels to work their muscles with weight training.
But gradually as you get stronger and start lifting heavier weights in your workouts with the progressive overload principle. You’ll find that your technique will have to change as well. The technique needed to bench press 100 lbs. is totally different then the technique needed to bench press 300+ lbs. As you get stronger different muscles come into play, you need to pay a lot more attention to your set up, how you actually contract the muscles to lift, the mental preparation, etc.
If you have the opportunity to watch advanced lifters train you’ll notice that they are NOT going to be using an exaggerated slow and controlled type of exercise form. In fact lifting slow and controlled is not really natural. It doesn’t carry over into real world strength and it is not how our muscles are meant to work.
There are those die hard “fitness experts” out there who insist that slow and controlled is the only way and that if you use any speed or momentum in your lifting that you are cheating and that you are going to hurt yourself. But the fact is our bodies are designed for fast and explosive movements.
Let’s just look at some activities from real world examples. Things such as running, jumping, throwing, etc. all require speed, momentum, and explosiveness. Stand up right now and try to jump as high as you can, but do it in a slow and controlled fashion… you won’t even be able to lift off the ground.
And for a few examples from outside of sports, think of trying to pull start a lawn mower or kick start a dirt bike. You have to do both very fast and explosive or else the engine won’t get enough RPM’s to turn over and start. Bottom line is that real world stuff requires strength, speed, explosiveness, and even momentum. So why are so many people dead set against training this way in the gym?
Now...there are those individuals in the gym who like to go overboard and use too much weight with absolutely crappy form. You can see examples of this when barbell curls become reverse grip power cleans. And bench presses become a team effort push / pull exercise as the lifter drops the bar to his chest and his trusty spotter deadlifts it back up.
But there is that grey zone in the middle of the 2 extremes whereby you are training on the edge, pushing it hard, and also keeping relatively good exercise form at the same time. Powering up big weights by using a bit of “Body English” to handle such poundage's, but still maintaining pretty good form. Even through the lifts aren't “slow and controlled”, you are certainly placing maximum workload on the targeted muscle groups. This type of training will stimulate muscle growth in ways that endless slow and controlled reps with the pink dumbbells will never achieve.
These are some common exercises that work well for “Power Reps”. However, your own discretion is advised. This isn’t a free for all to go out and use crappy form. It’s just another tool in your tool box that can help you take your strength and muscular development to a higher level.
If you are going to use “Power Reps” in your training save them for the final all out work sets. Do your warm up sets using perfect form. Then as you work up to your top weight for a particular exercise you can give it that extra push to maximize the weights lifted and the stimulation to the muscles.
