What Lifting Tempo is Best For Strength, Muscle Building, And Fat Loss?

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On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, I’m sharing what lifting tempo is best for strength, muscle building, and fat loss.

The tempo of your lifts is one of the most neglected, yet very important parts of your workout program design.

What Is Tempo In Weight Training?

Tempo a.k.a. time under tension has a major impact on the results you’re getting from your workouts.

Tempo training can improve the performance of beginners, intermediates, and advanced trainees.

Research shows modifying the tempo of your lifts is one of the best techniques to improve:

• Strength
• Muscle building
• Fat loss

In fact, some say that following a tempo can be just as important to your workout, as the set and rep counts, as well as the weights lifted.

The 4 Components Of Tempo

The tempo of the exercise simply indicates how long you spend on:

1. Lowering the weight: typically called the eccentric portion of the lift.
2. Lifting the weight back up: typically called the concentric portion of the lift.
3. Pausing at the bottom of the lift.
4. Pausing at the top of the lift.

Think about it.

Lifting a weight very explosively up and down, with no pauses, will have a different training effect on your body, than if you were to lower the weight slowly for 4 seconds and lift it up for 1 second, with various pauses for peak contraction.

Either way is correct, depending on what your primary goal is.

I’ll get into that at the end of this post.

What Do The 4 Tempo Numbers Mean In Weight Lifting?

Typically in our workout programs, you’ll see reference to 4 numbers that indicate the prescribed tempo.

For example, in a barbell back squat, you could see a tempo of 4010.

First Tempo Number: The Number Of Seconds To Lower The Weight

In this example, the first tempo number is 4.

The number 4 represents the seconds of the eccentric portion of the lift, or the lengthening of the muscle.

In most cases, this is the lowering of the weight.

So in this example, you should take a 4 second count to lower yourself into the squat.

Second Tempo Number: The Number Of Seconds To Pause At The Bottom Of The Lift

In this example, the second tempo number is 0.

The number 0 represents the seconds of the pause in the stretched position.

For example, when you’re at the bottom of the squat, if the second tempo number is 0, there is no pause.

However, if the second tempo number was 1, there would be a 1 second pause at the bottom of the squat, in the stretched position.

Third Tempo Number: The Number Of Seconds To Lift The Weight Up

In this example, the third tempo number is 1.

The number 1 represents the seconds in the concentric portion of the lift, where the muscles shorten.

In most cases this is when you are lifting the weight.

In this example, you should take a 1 second count to stand back up from the squat.

Sometimes you may see an “X” used in the tempo scheme, for example, 40X0.

This means you should lift the weight with explosive power.

Fourth Tempo Number: The Number Of Seconds To Pause At The Top Of The Lift

In this example, the fourth tempo number is 0.

The number 0 represents the seconds of the pause at the top of the concentric range of the lift.

If the fourth number is 0, there is no pause.

However if it was 1, there would be a 1 second pause at the top.

What If You Can’t Finish The Set Following The Indicated Lifting Tempo?

Focusing on time under tension for the first few reps is important, but once you get to the later reps in the set, you may have a harder time sticking to the indicated tempos, as you get closer to failure.

In the later reps of the set, I would not recommend you stop the set if you can’t stick to the indicated tempos.

I would recommend you keep going until you hit failure, regardless of the lifting tempo.

What Lifting Tempo is Best For Strength, Muscle Building, And Fat Loss?

Now that you know what tempos are, and why they’re important, let’s quickly discuss what tempos you should be using based on your goal.

Best Lifting Tempo When Training For Strength

If strength and power is your primary goal, research shows a faster tempo of 1-1.5 seconds to lift and 1-1.5 seconds to lower for heavier weights, can improve strength faster, because of the force created behind the lift.

• Eccentric Lowering: 1-1.5 seconds
• Pause At Bottom: 0 seconds
• Concentric Lifting: 1-1.5 seconds
• Pause At Top: 0 seconds

The more force behind the lift, places more demand on your muscles, and recruits more motor units, especially the type 2 fast twitch muscle fibers.

Best Lifting Tempo When Training For Muscle Building

Tempo training for muscle building is a little bit different.

If your goal is primarily muscle building, a slower tempo may be more beneficial for you.

With a slower tempo, there is an increase in the time under tension for the muscle, which then recruits higher threshold motor units, creating more stimulus for muscle growth.

• Eccentric Lowering: 2-4 seconds
• Pause At Bottom: 0 seconds
• Concentric Lifting: 1 second
• Pause At Top: 0 seconds

If you’re a beginner to resistance training, a good place to start is by focusing on using a slower tempo with lighter weights.

This way you’ll improve muscle size, without compromising form and your safety.

Using a slower tempo with lighter weights is also a good idea when you’re recovering from an injury, as it can improve the blood flow to that injured joint or muscle, while improving muscle activation.

Best Lifting Tempo When Training For Fat Loss

If your goal is primarily fat loss, more time under tension, such as 4 seconds to lower, and 1 second to lift, helps increase the afterburn effect.

• Eccentric Lowering: 4 seconds
• Pause At Bottom: 0 seconds
• Concentric Lifting: 1 seconds
• Pause At Top: 0 seconds

This means your metabolism is elevated and you’ll burn calories at a higher rate after your workout.

The natural production of growth hormone and lactic acid can also increase with slower tempos, thus helping burn more body fat.

What Program Should I Follow Based On My Specific Goals?

So there you have it Live Lean Nation.

You now know the importance of following a structured lifting tempo, based on your workout goals.

If you’re not currently following a workout program, I highly recommend you invest in one today:

If Your Fitness Goal Is:

• Fat Loss: check out my 42 day Live Lean Afterburn 2.0 body recomposition program.
• Muscle Building: check out my 42 day Live Lean Mass 2.0 muscle building program.
• To Get Stronger: check out my 42 day Live Lean Strength workout program.

The best program for your goals is designed and ready for you to take action on it and accomplish your fitness goals.

I’m here to help you do it.

Do me a big favor and share this video post with your workout partner.

I absolutely love you guys.

Keep Living Lean.