Question:

I want to be leaner but I also want to gain more muscle mass. Is it possible to do both at the same time? If not, which one should I focus on first?

Answer:

Gaining muscle while losing fat is not impossible but it is extremely difficult for genetically-average drug-free trainees because when you eat for one the energy balance and resulting hormonal environment is not conducive to the other.

The most common exceptions to this appear to be people who have a lot of body fat and are either beginners or regaining lost muscle (the Colorado Experiment is a good example of this). The further you are from your maximum muscular potential and the less accustomed your muscles are to intense work the faster your body will tend to respond to training and the less it takes to effectively stimulate muscular strength and size increases. The fatter you are the easier it is for you to lose fat and the more muscle you will be able to maintain while doing so.

For everyone else, whether you should focus on losing fat or building muscle first depends on your current body composition. If your goal is to have a lean, well-defined, physique this means having a around ten percent bodyfat or below if you are male, and a bodyfat percentage in the low to mid teens if you are female. If  you are a male with a bodyfat percentage around or above the mid teens or a female with a bodyfat percentage around or above the low twenties reducing your bodyfat will  improve your physical appearance more than gaining muscle, and leaning down first helps because the leaner you are the less fat you will tend to gain as you start building muscle and the easier it is to distinguish between fat and muscle gains.

Once you’ve leaned down do not immediately increase your calories to over maintenance levels, though. Your body will have adapted to the lower calorie intake and if you rush to increase your calories you’ll gain fat more easily. Instead, bring your calories back up to maintenance over a period of a few weeks then stay at maintenance calories for a few more before gradually increasing your intake.

If your bodyfat is already below this level and you don’t want or need to get even leaner for a competition, photoshoot, or to make weight for athletic competition or some other event you should focus on gaining muscle, but keep an eye on your bodyfat percentage and if it gets back up to the mid teens if you’re male or the low twenties if  you’re female stop and take a few weeks to diet back down before focusing on gaining again.

Leaning down first and then alternating between short periods of calorie surplus for gaining muscle and calorie restriction to bring your bodyfat back down whenever it goes up more than a few percent is more effective for genetically average, drug-free trainees than the traditional approach of using long “bulking” and “cutting” phases. You will look better most of the time if you don’t let your bodyfat get too high, and by avoiding the need for an extended period of calorie restriction to get lean again you’ll hold on to more of the muscle you’ve gained.

I grew up listening to hard rock and heavy metal and am a fan of many of the bands popular during the 80’s, so I’ve been excited about some of my favorites reuniting. I’ve also been disappointed, if not surprised, to see how badly some of them have let themselves go. Many have gotten downright fat. Some singers can’t get halfway through a concert without losing their breath, and some guitarists who used to be all over the stage now just stand around looking tired.

But not Dee Snider. The screen capture below is from a Twisted Sister concert at the Göransson Arena in Sandviken, Sweden on December 14, 2013. He’s fifty eight years old, and in great physical condition.

Dee Snider of Twisted Sister still rockin’ at 58

When asked about his workout regimen in an interview a few years back, Dee said,

It’s not what you do, it’s how consistently you do it! I have been training consistently for decades. You don’t have to do a lot, you just have to commit to it and that goes with eating wise too. I’m not like “I don’t eat anything” kind of guy, you just stay away from the fried foods or the cheesy things or fettuccine Alfredo stuff. It’s the cumulative effect over the years. So if your looking for the miracle of being fit in their fifties it’s not going to the gym four hours a day, five days a week. It’s putting that thirty minutes to forty five minutes a day, four days a week…. ALWAYS! You’ve seen me perform and…I rock! I can’t believe it myself! When it comes down to it, I always adhered to a certain lifestyle and certain fitness regimen. Again, nothing fanatical, just always consistent!

Sound familiar? It should. While four workouts a week is a little more than most people need when training at a very high level of intensity, the general message is spot on; results come from brief and infrequent but hard workouts done consistently over time, and sensible eating.

What you do does matter, though, and there are certain things you need to do if you want to still be rocking a body like Dee’s when you’re in your forties, fifties, and older. Which exercises you perform and how you perform them have to take both effectiveness and safety into consideration. The goal isn’t just to stimulate improvements, but to do so without wrecking your body in the process or undermining your long term health and mobility. This means choosing exercises that efficiently load the targeted muscles without overstressing the joints. This means performing these exercises with strict form, moving in a slow and controlled manner and focusing on creating tension in the muscles rather than bouncing, jerking, swinging, or throwing weights around. This means paying attention to your body and how it responds to exercise and adjusting your volume and frequency as necessary to avoid overtraining.

While the optimal workout or training program for any individual will vary depending on their goals and response to exercise, after years of experimentation I’ve found the following general template to be highly effective for the majority of people when done hard and consistently. It effectively and safely works all the major muscle groups, can be completed in half an hour or less if you rush between exercises, allows for some variability in exercise selection, and can be adapted to a variety of equipment.

Perform one set of one exercise from each of the following categories. Move slowly, taking three to four seconds to lift the weight, three to four seconds to lower, and hold for two to three seconds at the end point on compound pulling and simple movements. Use a weight that allows you to complete between six and ten repetitions in good form on the pushing movements, and between five and eight repetitions on the rest (fewer repetitions due to the longer rep duration with the hold and squeeze). When you can do more in good form, increase the weight the next time you train. Move from one exercise to the next as quickly as you can.

1. Compound hip and thigh extension
2. Vertical pull
3. Horizontal push
4. Horizontal pull
5. Vertical push
6. Trunk extension
7. Trunk flexion
8. Heel raise
9. Wrist extension or gripping
10. Wrist flexion or gripping
11. Neck extension or right lateral flexion or rotation
12. Neck flexion or left lateral flexion or rotation

While this might seem to be high volume relative to some popular high intensity training workouts the second half of the exercises are for smaller muscle groups so the overall demand is not excessive for most people. If you have a difficult time getting through this you can always divide it into two workouts or substitute simple movements for some of the compound ones.

I’m currently training at home alternating between two workouts based on this structure, one slightly modified, using just a set of SelectTech dumbbells and the UXS bodyweight station:

Workout A

1. Parallel-grip pull-up
2. Push-up
3. Dumbbell squat
4. Inverted row
5. Dumbbell press
6. Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlift
7. Dumbbell push crunch
8. Dumbbell one-legged heel raise
9. Dumbbell wrist extension
10. Dumbbell wrist curls
11. TSC neck extension
12. TSC neck flexion

Workout B

1. Chin-up
2. Dumbbell arm curl
3. Lunge (alternate starting side each workout)
4. Parallel bar dip
5. Dumbbell triceps extension
6. Dumbbell deadlift
7. Dumbbell lateral raise
8. Dumbbell bent raise
9. Gripping (right – stronger hand)
10. Gripping (left – weaker hand due to nerve damage)
11. TSC neck right lateral flexion
12. TSC neck left lateral flexion

In a fully equipped gym, this could translate to the following using free weights:

1. Squat
2. Chin-up or barbell pullover
3. Bench press
4. Bent over row
5. Standing press
6. Stiff-legged deadlift
7. Weighted crunch
8. Dumbbell one-legged heel raise
9. Wrist extension
10. Wrist curl
11. Neck extension with harness, manual resistance, or TSC
12. Neck flexion with harness, manual resistance, or TSC

…or machines:

1. Leg press
2. Pull-down
3. Chest press
4. Compound row
5. Overhead press
6. Back extension
7. Abdominal flexion
8. Calf press
9. Cable wrist extension
10. Cable wrist curl
11. Neck extension
12. Neck flexion

…or done entirely with bodyweight:

1. Parallel-grip pull-up
2. Push-up
3. Squat
4. Inverted row
5. Pike push-up or handstand push-up
6. Hip raise
7. Crunch
8. Heel raise
9. Thick-bar or finger hang for grip and forearms
10. TSC neck extension
11. TSC neck flexion

While no one workout is optimal for everybody this general structure has been very effective, and is a good starting point from which to develop your own workouts based on your goals and how your body responds to exercise. The same goes for eating. No one diet is optimal for everybody, but the same general principles apply; eat a variety of nutrient dense foods in an amount appropriate to your energy expenditure and goals, and minimize intake of foods which contain significant amounts of potentially harmful substances.

There are no secrets to building a rockin’ body; results come from eating and sleeping well and training hard, progressively, and consistently.

Question:

I am using Project Kratos at the moment and you advise to squeeze your muscles at the fully contracted position on pulling movements and hold at the bottom position on pushing movements as a way of making the exercise harder. Sometimes when I do a wall squat after about ninety seconds my legs will get a little shaky. At this point I will tense/contract my whole lower body, I can tolerate this for about ten more seconds before failure (or more likely I give up).

Would it be beneficial to fully contract the muscles at the beginning of a static hold, or even during dynamic movements?

Answer:

It is possible to significantly increase the difficulty of both isometric and dynamic bodyweight exercises by intentionally contracting the antagonists – the muscles that oppose the actions of the target muscles or agonists – but you should build up gradually rather than contract as hard as you can right from the start. If you allow the target muscles to fatigue somewhat first you won’t have to contract the antagonists as hard and I have found it easier to control and sustain the antagonistic co-contraction this way.

For example, when performing a wall squat or squat hold you should do so normally for about the first thirty seconds, then gradually start to contract your hamstrings and quadriceps harder, taking around five to ten seconds to slowly build up to a maximum effort.

When performing dynamic exercises intentional antagonistic co-contraction (IAC) should be started after the second or third repetition, with the build up occurring during a hold at the start point on pushing movements and the end point or “fully contracted” position on pulling movements. For example, when performing push ups when you return to the start point after the third rep, hold yourself there motionless while starting to contract your biceps and back against your chest shoulders and triceps,  taking around five to ten seconds to slowly build up to a maximum effort, then slowly begin the next repetition while continuing to contract as hard as you can.

It helps to practice this while standing, pushing your arms forward and pulling them back working the chest, back, shoulder, and arm muscles against each other. Pay close attention to your breathing, as people have a strong tendency to hold their breath while doing this. There have been many exercise programs based on IAC alone (notable examples include Charles Atlas’ “Dynamic Tension” and Harry Wong’s “Dynamic Strength”) but, since you may not be able to fully activate antagonistic muscle pairs simultaneously, additional external resistance may be necessary for maximum effectiveness.

This is something I experimented with earlier during Project: Kratos and considered including in the book but found it difficult to teach and impossible to quantify (without equipment). While it appears that IAC can make bodyweight exercises intense enough for even the strongest  trainees (assuming relatively balanced strength between antagonistic muscle groups), it takes a lot of practice to do it well.

I was recently interviewed by Fred Fornicola for his new web site, on the topics of bodyweight training, Project: Kratos, and the UXS bodyweight multi-exercise station. Click the link below to read the interview on Fred’s site:

Fred Fornicola Interviews Drew Baye

If you have any questions about Project: Kratos, the UXS, or bodyweight training in general after reading the interview come back and post them in the comments below.

Question: 

What’s your take on changing protocols to maintain client interest? If switching now and then to a less efficient but valid scheme keeps a trainee enthusiastic and making some progress, I’d think he’s better off than if he quit a “perfect” program, (assuming safety isn’t compromised).

Answer: 

The exercise protocol you use with a client should be determined by and if necessary modified or changed based on their goals and ability, not what they find interesting. What they should be interested in is results.

Because so many people confuse exercise with physical recreation, the distinction between the two is one of the first things you should explain to new clients. The purpose of exercise is to stimulate the body to improve or maintain functional ability, health, and physical appearance and the requirements for doing so dictate the protocol, not what a person finds fun or entertaining. By trying to make exercise fun or trying to turn a recreational activity into exercise you end up with something that is not very good for either; an activity that is relatively inefficient and ineffective for stimulating physical improvements and not as much fun.

I tell new clients that as they become better at performing the exercises their workouts will become more challenging, and to expect them to be very hard. They should expect their muscles to burn, their heart to race, and their breathing to become labored, and that their workouts will not be fun – but they will be mercifully brief and infrequent, and they will be very effective and very safe.

Rather than compromise their workouts encourage them to participate in physical recreational activities and those will give them additional motivation to do well during their workouts; the more their functional ability improves as a result of exercise the more enjoyment they will derive from other physical activities and the more resistant they will be to injury when performing them.

This is not to say you should never vary someone’s program, but any change in protocol, exercise selection, volume, frequency, etc. should be done for the purpose of improving the effectiveness and safety of the program based on their goals and response to exercise, and not arbitrary or for the sake of entertaining them. For more on this read The Ultimate Routine.

Set-extension techniques like forced reps, drop sets, and rest-pause can be valuable when used correctly, but it is best not to overdo them. Beginners should not be doing these until they have developed relatively good form and advanced trainees should have learned to push them themselves hard enough to only require them occasionally.

While intensity – your level of effort relative to your momentary capability – is one of the most important factors in stimulating increases in muscular strength and size, it appears that too much time spent working at maximum intensity can be counterproductive. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t work as hard as possible, but that once you are working as hard as possible you should do so very briefly. It is probably not possible to train too intensely, but if you are training as intensely as possible it is easy to do too much. Because of this, these techniques should be used infrequently and sparingly.

Set-extension techniques don’t usually increase exercise intensity, but rather extend the time spent working near or at maximum intensity. This appears to significantly increase the demands on recovery ability and can quickly lead to overtraining when done with people who are already working very hard.

An exception is when used with beginners who have not learned to push themselves as hard as they are capable of, and this is when I have found them most useful. Once a trainee has developed reasonably good form, if they stop an exercise within one or two reps of their lower repetition guide number and I suspect they are capable of doing more repetitions, I will tell them I am going to assist them in continuing the exercise for one more repetition. I then very gradually begin to apply force to assist them, increasing slowly until positive movement resumes, then only apply the minimum amount of force necessary to assist them in continuing to move. Often, with beginners I find they only need a slight amount of assistance at first, to convince them they are being assisted, and that they are capable of continuing without my assistance. In this case I continue to maintain contact and maintain the appearance of assisting, and repeat until they actually fail. After this, I tell them what I did and why – I wanted to find out if they really reached failure, and if they hadn’t, I wanted to show them they really were capable of continuing but just needed to learn to contract harder.

Most, but not everybody will contract harder at this point – some will slack off and you must call them on it and tell them to keep contracting – and after a few times they learn they are capable of pushing themselves further than they thought. A few will have actually achieved failure and barely be able to complete the repetition with assistance, in which case I do not have them continue with more forced reps.

It is important not to do this too often, though. If done too frequently trainees begin to expect them and may hold back in anticipation of having to continue the exercise after momentary muscular failure.

It is possible to do this with a drop set as well, and may be necessary with equipment or exercises which do not lend themselves to efficiently or safely performing forced repetitions, but not nearly as informative. In this case, I tell the trainee I am going to remove some of the weight, and pretend to do so, then see whether they are capable of continuing when they believe the weight is lower. Often, they are capable of doing so, but this may have as much to do with the rest they are allowed while I pretend to change the weight as with them not having learned to contract as hard as they are capable of. I do not recommend dropping the weight more than once.

In most cases, techniques like forced reps and drop sets are best used when the initial weight selection is too heavy – either due to over-optimistic expectations of strength increases or circumstances negatively affecting the trainee’s strength at the time of the workout – to allow for the performance of a reasonable number of repetitions for the sake of other factors like cardiovascular and metabolic conditioning which appear to benefit from longer set durations. Assuming a moderate repetition cadence (a three to four second positive and a three to four second negative movement) I would use forced reps if the trainee fails within a rep or two of their lower repetition guide number and drop the weight if they fail three or more repetitions short, with a bigger drop for every rep they are short. If they perform more than the lower repetition guide number and appear to have reached true momentary muscular failure (continuing to contract as hard as possible for a few seconds after positive movement stops, just to be sure) I do not recommend continuing the set with either forced reps or a drop set.

Drop sets should not be used to allow an exercise to be started with a heavier load, as they usually are. This is often done with the belief that using a heavier average load over the course of the exercise will provide a more effective stimulus for muscular strength and size increases, but this does not appear to be the case, and it unnecessarily increases the stress on the joints. The same goes for rest-pause. Despite getting very good results with rest-pause training in the past I am hesitant to recommend it because it allows for such a huge increase in weight that even with very good form many of us started developing joint pain when using it.

Rest-pause can, however, be used as a set-extension technique in place of forced reps or a drop set if you fall several reps short of your lower repetition guide number and have nobody to assist you. In this case you should only perform enough rest-pause repetitions to get you within your target repetition range, resting as little as possible between reps and starting each repetition as smoothly as possible, with no jerking or bouncing.

If you use forced reps, drop sets, or rest-pause it is important to note it on your workout chart. If you perform forced reps or rest pause I recommend recording the number of repetitions completed in good form followed by a plus sign followed by the number of force repetitions or rest pause repetitions, with either an FR or RP to indicate which was used. For example, if you perform an exercise with two hundred pounds for five repetitions followed by two forced reps you would record 200/5+2FR in the weight/reps box for that exercise for that workout. If you perform a drop set, record the initial weight and repetitions performed followed by the reduced weight and reps, separated by a downward arrow. For example, if you perform an exercise with two hundred pounds for five reps followed by a ten percent drop in weight to one hundred and eighty pounds for three more reps you would record 200/5 ? 180/3.

Question:

Is lack of sleep making it hard for me to lose fat?

Answer:

Consistent sleep deprivation is strongly correlated with weight gain and risk of obesity, probably due to a combination of both physical and psychological factors.

Not getting enough sleep wreaks havoc with several key hormones involved in appetite and metabolism. It increases ghrelin and cortisol, while reducing leptin and growth hormone, which has the effect of increasing your appetite, reducing your metabolic rate, and promoting insulin resistance, abdominal fat storage, and loss of muscle. Even worse, sleep deprivation reduces your willpower making the increase in appetite more likely to cause you to overeat.

Although I’ve been dealing with the problem of sleep deprivation and fat loss with clients for years I didn’t really appreciate just how much of an effect it has until I experienced it myself. During the first few months after our son was born I slept about half as many hours per night as I normally do. Despite not making a conscious change in my diet I put on a noticeable amount of fat while my workout performance steadily worsened. Once I was able to resume normal sleep hours the fat came off and workout performance improved rapidly.

Clients who do not sleep as many hours consistently have a much harder time losing fat than those who do, and restructuring their schedule to get more sleep always improves their results. If you want to lose fat you should make getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night a priority.

Schedule it like you would your workouts, and try to go to sleep and wake up at consistent times. Like exercise and nutrition, the quality of your sleep is as important as the quantity, and you should try to optimize that as well. The room you sleep in should be dark, quiet, and cool, and you should get the most comfortable mattress you can afford. Reserve your bed for sleep and sex, and read, watch television, or use the computer in another room to minimize distractions from sleep.

Even if you are  knowledgeable about a subject, teaching it to others is impossible if you are unable to effectively communicate what you know. As you are aware if you are a professional personal trainer or have trained inexperienced friends or relatives, sometimes this is not as easy as it sounds. Teaching is largely a matter of effective communication, and if you wish to improve your ability to teach you must learn how to convey the knowledge you possess in a way your clients or trainees can easily grasp and relate to.

Define Your Terms

While terms like quadriceps, supinate and concentric are familiar to those knowledgable about exercise, they are not so well known by much of the population. Whenever possible, it is best to use common rather than technical terms. If it is necessary to use a technical term to explain a particular principle or concept, first define that term and explain it’s meaning. After you have explained something always ask if the trainee has any questions or if there is anything they are unclear about, to ensure they understand before moving on to new information or information which builds on what you have just taught them.

The main categories of terms to be defined are those related to anatomy, movement, and equipment.

For example, if we were to instruct a trainee in the performance of a front-grip pull down, we would first point out and name which muscular structures were involved in the movement and what functions those structures perform, so they know what to concentrate on during the exercise. Then if we tell them to focus on pulling their elbows down and back and on contracting their lats, they know exactly what we mean.

We also need to define terms related to movement such as positive, negative and turnaround, and in the case of the pull down, explain that when we say lifting or lowering we are referring to the movement of the weight stack or resistance source, and not the handle or the trainee’s arms so there is no confusion. This must be explained before the exercise, since many people will assume you are referring to the movement of their body when you say lifting or lowering, which in this case would be the opposite of the direction the weight stack is moving.

It is also important that the trainee be familiar with the terms defining any part of a machine which they will be interacting with, so they understand instructions related to actions involving that part. This is especially important when instructing the trainee on how to properly enter and exit a machine where they may be using a part of the machine for support or as a step while moving in or out or while positioning or aligning themselves.

Give Precise, Detailed, Concise Instructions

Instruct the trainee on every aspect of the exercise from start to finish. Do not assume a novice trainee even knows how to properly enter or exit a machine or load into an exercise such as a barbell squat. Instructing the novice on how to properly enter and exit a machine or pick up or load under a barbell is just as important for their safety and the effectiveness of the exercise as instructing them on how to properly perform it. For example, a very simple but important part of the proper exit procedure for any leg machine is making sure that the subject has both feet on the ground and away from any part of the machine they could trip over before attempting to stand out of the machine.

Do not assume the trainee has any prior knowledge of the exercise they are being instructed in, and provide very specific details in how they are to position or align themselves and how to perform the movement. For example, when instructing someone on a front-grip pull down or leg press, don’t just tell them to grab the handle or place their feet on the pedal. Tell them exactly where and how you want them to grip the handle or where and how you want their feet positioned on the pedal, being as specific as possible.

Before the trainee begins performing the exercise, ask if they have any questions and make sure they understand exactly what they are supposed to do.

While such detailed instruction might seem excessive, it is essential for safety’s sake. Safety should be the highest priority of facility owners and professional trainers. Whenever instructing someone in the performance of an exercise every possible measure should be taken to ensure the safety of the person performing the exercise and everyone around them. Nobody wants their members or clients harmed, or to end up involved in a law suit.

In addition to giving precise, detailed instructions, it is important to phrase your instructions in the proper order. While being instructed in the performance of a new exercise, the trainee should be paying close attention to your instruction, and will often react immediately to anything you say. If you do not properly phrase your instructions, this can lead to confusion. Before you tell them what to do, tell them when or at what point during the movement you want them to do it, and how.

Suppose you are instructing a client in the performance of a chest press for the first time and you are going to tell them to perform a turn-around, or smooth reversal of direction immediately before lockout. If you say, “Begin to turn-around slowly as you approach the end point. ” they might respond immediately when they hear the first words, “begin to turn-around…” and quickly reverse direction halfway through the movement. A better way to phrase it would be “As you approach the end point, slowly begin to turn-around.” This way they will know when and how they are supposed to perform the action before they know what that action is, and will not act prematurely.

While some directions will require more words than others, it is always best to be as concise as possible while instructing someone during an exercise. If you can say something with fewer words without compromising the precision or exact meaning of the message, then do so. For example, instead of saying, “Try to move a little slower as you begin the repetition”, say “Slower starts.” Assuming that you have already explained to the subject what you mean by starting point or start, this is more efficient and less distracting. Considering the example in the previous paragraph, once the client has learned the term end point and knows the end point for the exercise being taught, you can simply say “As you approach the end point…” instead of the wordier and less efficient “As you approach the point where your elbows are almost fully extended…”

Emphasize the Positive

There are often several ways to say the same thing, some positive, and some negative. When instructing a novice it is important to consider that they may feel somewhat awkward while learning a new exercise and might become frustrated if they’re having difficulty learning how to perform it properly. To avoid causing further frustration or irritation it helps to phrase things in a positive manner rather than as criticism. Instead of telling them what they’re doing wrong, tell them how they should be doing the exercise, or how they can improve their performance.

For example, instead of saying, “you’re moving too fast,” which sounds like criticism, say, “move slower” which is simply an instruction. Instead of saying, “your grip is too wide,” tell them exactly where and how you want them to position their hands. Phrase your instructions in a positive rather than critical manner whenever possible. After the exercise or workout, point out all of the things the subject performed correctly and commend them on any improvements in their form before discussing any areas that need work. This is especially important when working with people who don’t take criticism well or become agitated when they experience difficulty learning a new exercise or technique.

Because novices will often feel awkward and unsure of themselves, especially when learning exercises that require a greater degree of motor control, it is important to provide them with encouragement. The best way to do this is to let them know when they’re doing things right. Try to balance instruction with encouragement. Motivating someone to put forth their best effort during an exercise is just as important as teaching them to perform the exercise properly.

Effective Communication vs. Mindless Babble

It is unfortunate that most of what passes as exercise instruction in many gyms amounts to little more than mindless babble. I have observed many personal trainers over the years who not only know little of value about exercise, but are also incapable of effectively communicating what they believe they do know about the subject to their clients. I don’t consider such individuals to be personal trainers. A more appropriate title might be workout cheerleader orweight caddie. The following are examples of the kind of mindless babble I have heard from personal trainers in various gyms:

“Yeah, that’s it, keep going. Great! Come on! You can do another!!”

“Uh huh, good. Uh huh, good. Uh huh. Uhhhh, yeah. Uh huh”

“COME ON YOU F****** P****!! PUSH!! PUSH!! HARDER!!! HARDER!!!!”

“That’s it, squeeze! Squeeze! Feel that burn!”

While some might find this encouraging it is not exercise instruction. Yet this is the kind of inane chatter many people waste their money on when they hire the typical “personal trainer.” Don’t allow yourself to make the same mistakes. Clearly define your terms, give precise, detailed instructions, and phrase them carefully, concisely, and in a positive and encouraging manner.

Question:

Since the range of motion varies between exercises should I use a different rep cadence for exercises with different ranges of motion to maintain a consistent rep speed?

Answer:

While the same repetition cadence results in a different average speed for exercises with different ranges of motion this does not negatively affect either effectiveness or safety so it is not necessary to use a different cadence for every exercise.

You should move at least slowly enough during exercise to be able to maintain strict body positioning,  reverse direction smoothly, and to be able to feel and focus on the contraction of the target muscles. You should not move so slowly that your movement becomes a stuttered series of short starts and stops rather than smooth and continuous. There is a lot of room between these two extremes, and a cadence that is just slow enough for very long range exercises like pullovers and trunk extension will not be too slow for very short range exercises like shrugs and heel raises.

The exact speed of movement makes little difference for muscular strength and size increases. While slower speeds result in more consistent tension on the target muscles over the full range of the exercise you can get bigger and stronger moving fast, slow, or not at all as long as you train consistently and progressively with a high level of intensity.

You don’t need to move explosively or even fast during exercise to improve your speed or explosiveness in other activities. Both increase with strength regardless of the rep speed used to get stronger, so you don’t lose any benefit by moving more slowly on exercises with a shorter range of motion.

You don’t need to move extremely slowly to maintain relatively consistent tension on the target muscles or to keep the peak forces within safe levels, either. It is the acceleration during the turnarounds that affects this, and moving any more slowly than necessary to reverse direction smoothly doesn’t make a noticeable difference. So you’re not increasing your risk of injury significantly by not moving very slowly on exercises with a very long range of motion.

You could ignore cadence altogether and just move slowly enough on every exercise to maintain strict form, taking more time on exercises with a longer range and less on exercises with a shorter range, but having a specific repetition cadence allows for more objective comparison of performance between workouts and evaluation over time, and having a single repetition cadence for all exercises is simpler and easier than having to remember different cadences and rep ranges for different groups of exercises (since the same rep range results in a different time under load with different rep cadences).

For most people, a cadence of three to four seconds during both the positive and negative phase of the repetition will be just slow enough for longer range exercises and not too slow for shorter range exercises, although I recommend erring on the slow side when learning new exercises or when working with or around an injury. The exact speed is less important than being able to maintain strict body positioning and the correct path of movement, being able to reverse direction smoothly between the positive and negative phases, and being able to focus on intensely contracting the target muscles, and if you are unable to do this well lifting and lowering in three to four seconds you should use a longer cadence.

If you work out with a training partner or group I recommend having someone count cadence for you until you get a feel for the proper speed of movement on each exercise, then only repeating  the count later if you start going too slowly or quickly. The person counting cadence should use a stopwatch for accuracy. If you work out alone a metronome or metronome app on a smartphone helps if you’re not sure of your cadence.