Performing Exercises at the Proper Speed

This is an overlooked aspect to training, yet it can make a real difference in your results from any program. There is definitely a right pace to raising and lowering a weight if you are training for sports.

Any time you are using a barbell or dumbbell, the exercise is in its "eccentric" phase when you are lowering it. Eccentric as a strength training term refers to when a muscle is being lengthened under the tension of carrying an extra load (the dumbbells, the bar, or any other form of resistance). The "concentric" phase is when the resistance is moving up, or when you have to apply a force to get the weights to move against gravity (the third phase of a lift, the "isometric" phase, occurs when the weight is not moving at all, and will not be a focus of this discussion). Your muscles will shorten, or contract, in the concentric part of the lift.

The eccentric and concentric phases should be thought of separately, because they develop two different athletic skills. The eccentric phase improves your ability to absorb force. The concentric phase improves your ability to produce force.

One simple example of absorbing force occurs every time your foot hits the ground on a running stride. The muscles in your legs need to lengthen slightly to absorb the forces of gravity before pushing off. An inability to absorb force can lead to slower movements and reaction times, while also increasing your chance for injury.

Producing force is the more obvious part of sport movements. Kicking a soccer ball, throwing a baseball, or taking a slap shot in hockey are just a few examples of force production. The more force you can produce, the faster and more powerful your sports skills will be.

Strength training is a great way to develop force absorption and force production at the same time, but the speed in which the weights move is critical. The eccentric phase needs to be a slow and controlled movement in order to build your capacity to absorb greater stresses. The concentric phase, however, should be done in a much faster and powerful fashion. Within a single repetition, you have two different goals, and because of this the two phases need to be done at different speeds.

In general, the eccentric phase should take anywhere from 2 to 4 seconds to complete on every repetition. The greater your need to improve your force absorption ability, the closer this should be to the 4 second time. For the concentric phase, you should always look to complete it as fast as possible. Most of the time this will be under 1 second, but on the last repetition of a heavy set this may take a little longer. That's OK, as long as you are trying to move the weight in a fast and powerful fashion.

Jim Herrick, Jr. is the Strength & Conditioning Coach at Cushing Academy, located in Ashburnham, MA. Jim has trained hundreds of athletes in all aspects of sports performance since 1998. To find out more about our training programs, visit http://www.powersourcetraining.com