got a quick question here about tempo. i just started GVT 2K and the reccommended tempo is 402 for major muscle groups. it says you should be using a weight that is like 60% of your max though. I tried doing the chest workout with 135 and didn’t get more than 6 or 7 reps on the last few sets so i planned on moving the weight down next week to 115. my 1rm on bench though is 305 and that is with good form and probably a 20X tempo. if i use 115 on my next workout this will only be about 37% of my max. that just seemed a little low, which leads me to my next question. is a 402 tempo in real time 6 seconds, because that was basically how i measured it. i looked at the clock before my set and after and made sure that if i got 7 reps that the set took me roughly 42 seconds to complete give or take a few seconds. am i doing this right, or should the tempo be a more relative quick count? if anyone can help me out i would appreciate it. thanks
I would not go below 60% 1RM, and certainly not below 50%.
The problem here is that some people, including Poliquin, seem to think it advisable to speak imprecisely, with expressions such as “110% effort” and so forth. (What does that mean? And is it
less than when the same person talks about
“200% effort” or whatever?)
So far as I know, Poliquin’s claims as to
how many reps you ought to be able to do with this protocol are, in my words, bullshit, or in what are likely his words, “motivational.” However I think the tempo recommendation is intended to be precise.
How are you supposed to know which of his words are intended to be precise and which are not? Who knows…
So Bill, I was thinking of going light and using a 4-5 second negative on my reps. My buddy told me it helped him pack on some size even though he had to use “girl weights.” Should I forget it or not?!
I think it is a mistake to go too light – preferably not below 60% 1RM and definitely not below 50% 1RM. Not even on warmups, unless the sets are taken absolutely nowhere
near the point of fatigue.
Now, there may be exceptions on rare occasions, such as rarely doing some sort of strip set, but the vast majority of training should not be lighter than this. Fatiguing a muscle to where it has lost more than half its strength – cannot lift the weight another time even though that weight is less than 50% 1RM – seems to be a thing that impairs hypertrophy more than helps. Which perhaps is why aerobics women with pink dumbbells who fatigue themselves to the point where they can’t lift 5 lb another time gain no muscle from this method. But they would if they used a heavier weight like 80% 1RM and terminated the exercise when the muscle still had say 75% of its fresh strength remaining (not able to lift the 80% 1RM weight any longer though). In my opinion the cut-off point is around 50-60% 1RM.
Find your 1RM @ a 402 tempo, then figure out what percentage you are working at. You’re talking about comparing inequalities which dosen’t apply to hypertrophy related RM percentages.
To reason with Bill Roberts, I agree that there is propbably a point where going too low in %of 1RM may impede hypertrophy. So, maybe rather than dropping down in weight you could shorten the tempo slightly in order to complete the reps. Maybe a 40X or 401. As you increase your strength endurance you can add back time onto your tempo. Just an idea.
it was my understanding that as you fatigued your reps should decrease some like you get 10 for the first 4 sets then 9s and 8s or 7s and supposedly go back up (if doin reg gvt) in reps by set 9 and 10,
Do drop that weight just yet. I had the opportunity to talk with Vince G. (The man who first introduced GVT to the USA) a number of years ago. The reason you are losing power is that you body has not yet developed the energy system necessary for this type of workout. Vince would start most people new to this type of training out on 10 sets of 5 to 6 reps for the first cycle. Then 10 sets of 6-8 reps and finally ten sets of 10 reps. You body has to build up the energy substraights to do 10x10.
Hope this helps and Best of Luck.
Thanks for all the replies. I guess what i will do is find my 1RM at a 401 tempo, and then use 60% of that as the weight and keep the 401 tempo on the sets rather than 402. Then I will see how many I can get and if it is only 10 sets of 6 then that should be ok this time around like older lifter said.