Change Tempo, Change Outcomes

by Mitch Hauschildt, MA, ATC, CSCS

I’m always looking for the next big advantage or technique to make my athletes and patients better.  When I say better, this may mean decreased pain, improved performance, cleaner movement patterns or all of the above.  Better is better.  It’s as simple as that.

Most of the time, I tend to over complicate my training programs.  For example, rather than just select a periodization model and go with it, I feel the need to tweak and change it a bit.  Thus, my strength and conditioning programs usually have a linear set and rep scheme that is within 4 week blocks of different exercises that contain undulating loads and have conjugate influences with regards to accessory exercises.  It works well for me and my athletes, but is complicated as all get out to try to explain how it works to anyone else.  The reality is that I can probably get the same outcome with a simpler approach, but I tend to make things harder than they have to be.

In an effort to simplify things a bit, I have been changing tempo more and more within my training programs to vary load and output and seeing great results with minimal effort on my part.  Cal Dietz really opened my eyes a few years ago with his Triphasic training approach and I have adapted it for my injured athletes as well as with my healthy teams and programs.  This includes slowing down or speeding up various parts of a movement in order to concentrate on specific components of a movement and/or changing the metabolic demands.

The basic concept of Triphasic training is that we need to make sure that we train all 3 areas of an athlete’s movement abilities.  This includes eccentric, isometric and concentric phases of every movement.

Most of us are looking strictly at the concentric phase of exercise.  This is only natural because we are usually looking to move a load in the most efficient manner possible, which usually involves quickly moving through the eccentric phase and amoritization phase of a movement in order to get to the concentric phase of any movement.  The problem is that we do need to be able to accept loads while moving eccentrically and also be able to hold a load for more extended periods of time within sport and life in general.  Working on these various phases makes us more resilient over time.

Changing the tempo of a movement may mean that I slow the eccentric phase of a movement to be performed over 4 or 6 seconds.  Or, I may have someone hold a specific area of a movement for 4 or 6 seconds.  This can be done at the “bottom” of a movement or in the middle of a movement or at more than one spot in the movement.  You can decide.  Conversely, if your goal is to improve power output, increasing the speed of a concentric movement will assist with that as well.

I also find that slowing down or speeding up a movement has a significant effect on the metabolic demands of an exercise.  Performing a movement in a very slow and deliberate manner can significantly increase energy expenditure.  This can be great for burning more calories or improving work capacity.  On the other side of that, performing faster movements with a lighter load can be a great way to get some work done without fatiguing a patient or client if you are looking to improve recovery.

Lastly, I change tempos as part of my evaluation process to expose areas of weakness.  Most people will attempt to hide a lack of stability by increasing the speed of a movement.  Slowing the tempo of the movement will expose a lack of stability or poor work capacity in a lot of people.

Overall, the major advantages of adjusting the tempo of a movement include:

• Change in the metabolic demands of an exercise.
• Allows for new periodization models to be introduced at different phases of training and/or rehab.
• Infinitely expanding progressions and regressions with a very small and simple exercise library.
• Aids in the evaluation process by exposing phases or training and/or lack of control.
• It usually provides a new training stimulus to a seasoned lifter.

There are a lot of reasons and times to adjust the tempo of a movement.  Pick your time a usage wisely.  Slowing the tempo often creates a lot of local muscle soreness and will also expose stability issues as they break down.  Always strive to put your patients in clients in a position to be successful.  No matter how or when you do it, changing tempo can be extremely powerful and useful.  Be creative and have fun.