In today’s blog post, we’ll discuss exercise repetition speed and how it affects your training outcomes. We’ll also look at when it might make sense to slow down your repetitions and how to do it effectively.
Research has shown that repetition speed generally does not have a significant impact on resistance training outcomes in terms of strength or hypertrophy. This makes sense, as the main driver of muscle growth and strength gain is reaching muscular failure, which can be achieved regardless of how fast or slow you perform your reps. In other words, there’s no direct benefit to slowing down your repetitions purely for the sake of improving progress.
However, slowing down your reps can have indirect benefits, particularly when it comes to joint health and recovery. Moving the weight more slowly helps reduce mechanical loading peaks, meaning that the stress placed on your joints and connective tissues remains more consistent throughout the movement. On the other hand, performing reps explosively or too quickly can create sharp tension peaks and drops, increasing the risk of connective tissue strain and potentially hindering recovery over time.
When training with slower, controlled repetitions, you’ll likely need to reduce the load you’re using in order to maintain proper form and still reach muscular failure within your target rep range. The goal should be to move the weight at your maximum controllable pace, slow enough to maintain control and tension, but not so slow that it feels unnatural or disrupts your rhythm. If desired, you can slow down your reps even further to minimize joint stress, just remember that the key is still training to failure.
If you’re experiencing joint aches or recovery issues, you may be moving the weights too quickly. By slowing your repetitions to your maximum controllable pace, you can reduce unnecessary joint and connective tissue stress. This can ultimately support better long-term training progress by improving recovery and allowing for greater muscle supercompensation.