Firing Up The Muscle Fibers

You must add "stress" or tension to the muscle to make it grow for the positive and negative or (concentric and eccentrics). Think about it. If you do a 10-12 rep set without any stress or tension, it'd only last 10-15 seconds and you'd be just going through the motion.

 

The KEY difference will be in the stimulation of the central nervous system and therefore muscle fibers, which ultimately effects physiology and how your body responds to the training. 

With that said You want to remember that rep tempo is absolutely CRITICAL to progression and building muscle.

In fact it's one of the most under utilized "secrets" of bodybuilding.

Without the correct rep tempo your workouts are going to be VERY ineffective.

Try this out for your workouts using the following negative phases in each week - 

Week 1 - 4-5 second negatives 

Week 2 - 2-4 second negatives 

Week 3 - 2 second negatives 

It will depend on the body part, exercise and at what stage of the workout you are in. On occasions you should also alter things slightly BUT this gives you a very good starting point. It also makes certain that your workouts are going to challenge your muscles as they should!

In terms of the concentric phases and isometric phases that's for another day. Get your negatives sorted first and DO NOT let yourself off lightly, no matter how tempting it is as the burn sets in! 

Remember even during the negative phase of the rep to get the most from the workout you MUST tense the muscle against the resistance. YES it hurts, YES its uncomfortable but you want results others don't have correct?

 

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