All Speed, More Muscle?

Q: In both Old Man Young Muscle and OMYM2 you say Speed Sets [faster 1.5-second controlled reps] cause less damage and therefore allow more growth. So shouldn’t I do all of my sets that way?

A: It does make some sense. And to be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen champion bodybuilders train with slow negatives—at least not on more than a set or two.

And that brings me to an exception to your proposal. Never do your first set in the STX sequence with a Speed set. Why?

Remember, not only does that first 15-to-20-rep set push the muscle through the fiber-array cascade…

Type-1 (endurance) —> 2a (endurance/power) —> 2b (power)

It also acts as a precision warmup for the target muscle. That means you want to use a 1/3 tempo—lift in one second, lower in three.

That slower tempo will prime the nervous system, tendons, and ligaments as well as bring blood to the muscle to set up more fast-twitch activation on the Speed phase that follows after a brief rest.

On the other hand, if you move fast on the initial set, you may set yourself up for injury…

If you want to do Speed Sets on all but the first, give it a shot—but remember to move fast but stay in control.

Also, no Speed Sets on full-stretch exercises. It’s too easy to do damage when stretch is amplified.

See the ebooks below for which exercises are ideal, stretch, and/or contracted as well as how to use Speed Sets for less damage and more muscle.

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.