Explosive movement or slow and contolled

[highaltitudebc]

Just wanted to know some opinions on which is the best for building muscle,explosive lifting or slow and controlled?Also how long should i hold muscle under tension ,2 seconds or more?Thank you in advance for all info and advice.New to bodybuilding and am trying to learn as much as possible to speed up my gains..

[TT Eric]

Positive (concentric) = explosive.

Negative (eccentric) = controlled.

Eric

[steve_d]

You will probably get a million different views on this type of question, and I don't think there is a right answer. I often keep things slow and controlled on both the concentric and eccentric part of the movement. Although, when I do key exercises such as deadlifts / squats / bench, I will often use a more explosive technique. But with that said, you also have to think about what it means to be explosive or controlled. Explosive on a bench press doesn't mean lowering the weight and bouncing half of the weight off your gut / chest. It means pushing with as much force as possible to recruit more muscle fibers to allow for more weight to be pushed. I could use 50% of my max and do things ultra controlled up and down and feel the burn like crazy, but that doesn't mean its optimal. I hear a lot of guys talking about 'all you need is a pump'. If that were true, no one would ever push big weights. I could get a pump by doing pushups and lifting a couple of cans of chunky soup!

I think the best way for someone new to bodybuilding is to focus on deadlifts / squats / bench and make sure you have proper form, and work your way up to getting really strong in those lifts for all rep ranges (4-16). In fact, if all you did was those 3 exercises you'd be way better off than doing every other exercise excluding those. Time under tension is a little trickier. Some people get all technical with regards to the concept. But if you do 4 reps taking 2 seconds or more, vs. 8 reps at 1 second, you've technically had an equal time under tension. I personally feel the real gains are made when you are at your last couple of reps. You can either choose to rack the weight, or push yourself. If you don't push yourself, you simply will not grow as big as possible. Matter of opinions, but I tend to do almost all my sets to failure (aside from warmups). The only exception is if your goal is powerlifting and your not training for size, but pure power. In that case your simply training your CNS to be able to recruit all muscle fibers to work at the same time to lift more weight, more efficiently. Training to failure ALL the time may not benefit in that case.

Also, another big thing is just like dieting, in order to be successful you have to keep things exciting. If you do the same thing all the time, you may get bored and want to give up, or not put as much effort. It's always a good idea to switch things up to keep motivation up. I don't think there is 1 program out there you could follow every week forever that is optimal.

[Praetorian]

Well said Steve...I would agree with concentrating on t basics and getting better at them technically so pushing bigger weights is the result. Compensatory acceleration is a primary factor with regards to building muscle and strength overall. The level of intensity is key...the problem is everyone thinks they train intensely but the reality is they don't...otherwise you would see alot more bigger guys in the gym than you do. The other thing to remember is the stronger and bigger you get the more your intensity level has to increase in order to illicit enough stimulus to produce gains.

P

[natenator]

Positive (concentric) = explosive.

Negative (eccentric) = controlled.

Eric

completely missed the question being asked #readingcomprehension lol :D