Kent Sport Health and Fitness Instructor John Harman gets us moving with another fun workout.
Maximise tension, not momentum. Slow your reps. down in order to place your muscles under tension for longer.
Why?
There are a number of benefits of performing slower reps.
1. Greater range of motion
2. Increase in the number of muscle fibres stimulated
3. Reduced risk of injury
4. Better neuromuscular control
5. Reduced momentum
6. Better strength gains
Here’s what you do:
To achieve the desired speed of my reps., I use a metronome. A metronome is usually used by musicians to help them regulate the tempo, typically In beats per minute (bpm). To set myself a base rate, I first performed push-ups, at my usual speed, for 1 minute. The result was 55 push-ups or reps. per minute (rpm). I now need to set my metronome at a rate that is less than 55bpm (rpm). So, to begin with, I’ve set my metronome at 44bpm (rpm). I will now complete my reps. at this rate in time with the metronome. Over time, as my strength develops I will reduce the bpm further. You can still decide how many reps. and how many sets you do for each workout. The only difference, is that you are now working at a slower rate; regulated by the metronome. And, ultimately realising the benefits listed above.
Which ever exercise you choose to do, always work out what your base rate is first by carrying out the exercise at you normal rate for 1 minute then reduce it accordingly.
Why not take up the Metronome Challenge with these 4 exercises:
- Push-ups
- Sit-ups
- Squats
- Back raises
For all exercises above perform 15 reps, 4 sets, with 30 seconds recovery between sets.
If you don’t like using a metronome, you can exercise to music.
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