Original articles   

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2001 June;41(2):154-8

Copyright © 2002 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Effects of regular and slow speed resistance training on muscle strenght

Westcott W. L., Winett R. A., Anderson E. S., Wojcik J. R., Loud R. L. R., Cleggett E., Glover S.

From the South Shore YMCA, Quincy, Massachusetts * Center for Research in Health Behavior, Department of Psychology, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

Back­ground. The ­study ­assessed a way to ­increase the inten­sity and effec­tive­ness of resis­tance train­ing by com­par­ing train­ing ­with a slow­er rep­e­ti­tion ­speed to train­ing ­with a con­ven­tion­al rep­e­ti­tion ­speed. Slow­er rep­e­ti­tion ­speed may effec­tive­ly ­increase inten­sity through­out the lift­ing ­phase ­while decreas­ing momen­tum.
Meth­ods. Two stud­ies ­were ­done ­with ­untrained men (N=65) and wom­en (N=82), (­mean age=53.6) who ­trained two to ­three ­times per ­week for ­eight to 10 ­weeks on a 13 exer­cise Nau­ti­lus cir­cuit per­form­ing one set of ­each exer­cise. Par­tic­i­pants exclu­sive­ly ­trained ­using reg­u­lar ­speed rep­e­ti­tions for 8 to 12 rep­e­ti­tions per set at 7 sec ­each (2 sec lift­ing, 1 sec ­pause, 4 sec low­er­ing) or a ­Super ­Slow® train­ing pro­to­col ­where ­they com­plet­ed 4 to 6 rep­e­ti­tions per set at 14 sec ­each (10 sec lift­ing, 4 sec low­er­ing). All of the par­tic­i­pants ­were test­ed for ­either the 10 rep­e­ti­tion-max­i­mum (RM) weigh­tload (reg­u­lar-­speed ­group) or the 5-RM weigh­tload (­slow-­speed ­group).
­Results. In ­both stud­ies, ­Super-­Slow train­ing result­ed in ­about a 50% great­er ­increase (p<0.001) in ­strength for ­both men and wom­en ­than reg­u­lar ­speed train­ing. In ­Study 1, the ­Super-­Slow train­ing ­group ­showed a ­mean ­increase of 12.0 kg and the reg­u­lar ­speed ­group ­showed an ­increase of 8.0 kg ­increase (p<0.001). In ­Study 2, the ­Super-­Slow train­ing ­group ­showed a 10.9 kg ­increase and the reg­u­lar ­speed ­group ­showed an ­increase of 7.1 kg (p<0.001).
Con­clu­sions. ­Super-­Slow train­ing is an effec­tive meth­od for mid­dle-­aged and old­er ­adults to ­increase ­strength. ­Although stud­ies ­still ­need to be ­done ­with at-­risk pop­u­la­tions, rep­e­ti­tion ­speed ­should be con­sid­ered ­when pre­scrib­ing resis­tance train­ing.