New Programming Cycle- April 2024
NEW PROGRAMMING CYCLE
Over the next two months, our focus is to build our strength, endurance and motor control, three qualities essential for any level of athlete to either develop or upgrade your existing foundation. Make sure you are familiar with reading tempos (numbers following each movement such as 30X1), which is an important part of each workout - the time under tension and control over every part of the movement (eccentric, concentric, isometric, and pause between reps) will develop both strength
and stability. Half way through our programming cycle, we will be testing your strength at our FH Strength Challenge on May 4th!
What Is Tempo Training?
Tempo training is all about moving slowly and under control. Instead of somewhat mindlessly moving through your reps, you’ll be breaking each movement down into its fundamentals: an eccentric portion, a concentric portion, and two isometric portions in between (one at the top and one at the bottom of the lift). Each portion of the lift is assigned its own number, corresponding to how many seconds that part of the lift will take you.
By lifting to a set tempo, you’ll increase your time under tension (TUT) compared to your standard lifting pace. For example, say you typically squat 225 pounds for a set of 10 reps, and each rep takes you two seconds to complete. In total, you accumulate 20 seconds of tension. However, if you take three seconds to descend, pause for two seconds at the bottom, and then explode up, each rep will take you about five seconds. Do six reps at that pace, and you’ll have accumulated 30 seconds of tension.
How Tempo Training Works
Generally speaking, when you lift for lower rep schemes, you’re using much heavier weights (a higher percentage of your one-rep max). With tempo training, you’ll do the opposite by lowering your number of reps per set and lower the weight you’re using.
With tempo training, you’ll see a sequence of four numbers. If you’ve ever seen 3-1-1-0 pop up in a program, you’ve encountered tempo training before — even if you didn’t know quite how to read the tempo of the exercise. Here’s what those numbers mean:
The first number is the eccentric portion (descent) of the exercise, which is the load coming down. (squatting down, lowering the body during a pull-up, etc.)
The second number is the pause at the bottom (holding the bottom of a squat, pausing at the chest on a bench press, dead hang on a pull-up bar, etc.)
The third is the concentric portion (ascent), which is the weight moving up. In some cases, in place of the third number, you may see an “X,” which means explode up as fast as possible, or an “A,” which means assisted up.
The fourth number is the pause at the top. For some movements, like the squat, it is back to the start position; for others, like the pull-up, it is holding the top position with the chin over the bar.