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Pausing between reps benefits
Posted by: Muscle Nerd
When you're cranking out reps on the bench, whether it's a barbell or dumbbells, don't bounce.
Pause and Power for More Muscle
Pause at the bottom of the movement for each repetition to ensure you've reached full range of motion and set up the next phase of your movement.
This will eliminate the temptation to "bounce" the weight back up.
We want your muscles, not momentum, to be doing the work.
Do NOT relax at the bottom of the rep! Stay tight!
The tension should not leave your body when you pause at the bottom.
That is just an injury waiting to happen.
We don't like injuries!
Then, to recruit the most muscle fibers possible during the "positive" (upward) phase of the rep, try to lift the weight as fast as possible. Strict form and safety is crucial at this point.
Explode upward UNDER CONTROL!
Avoid throwing or jerking the weight.
You should be powering through the middle part of the rep, but completing the repetition under control.
You perform this fast "positive" rep phase to train the central nervous system to recruit more fibers.
If you can train your central nervous system to engage more muscle fibers each time you perform an exercise you will be increasing your strength and ultimately your size.
Improving your central nervous system is crucial to building more muscle mass at a faster rate.
Besides other factors (muscle belly length, bone structure), one of the big reasons the biggest bodybuilders get so big is that they have a fantastic central nervous system that recruits more muscle fibers than most people.
This is why some bodybuilders can build serious size on low rep strength based routines.
They recruit a lot more muscle fiber during those low rep sets because of an optimal central nervous system.
And while there is a top end you can reach (like most everything from sprinting speed to the speed of your fast ball), you CAN improve your central nervous system, which can translate into more muscle.
An improved central nervous system is one of the big benefits of "explosive" positive rep training.
Pausing and Powering will allow you to maximize muscle fiber recruitment, leading to more strength and more muscle.
You know, if that's the type of thing you're looking for from your training.
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