There’s a song in my ITunes playlist called, “Push the Tempo”. I don’t even know if that’s the name of it (I named it that when I exported it from a CD years ago), but that’s all it says over and over… “Push the Tempo! Push the Tempo!” and some other stuff I can’t understand. It sounds cool and has a great beat, so it’s in my workout playlist.
Speaking of tempo, what a game-changer that can be for burning fat!
What?
Yep. Let me explain…
The tempo of an exercise is how fast you perform it. For instance, on a Squat or Bodyweight Squat, the tempo could be 2-0-1. That means you would take 2 seconds to lower yourself, no pause at the bottom, and then take just 1 second to return to the starting position. Most people do them with a 1-0-1 tempo – very quickly. And that’s OK!
However, changing this tempo to let’s say, 5-0-1, this exercise becomes much harder. So…
When Is a Good Time to Slow Down My Tempo?
You see, most people think the only way to progress an exercise or make it harder is to either:
A) Increase the reps or…
B) Increase the resistance
For example, let’s look at the Goblet Squat:
You see that Sabrina is using a 1-1-1 tempo (one of the more popular tempos).
Typically, the ONLY way to make this exercise harder would be to either use more reps or increase the weight.
However, all you’d have to do is slow down your tempo on the way down. You then wouldn’t have to increase your weight at all. It instantly becomes harder, and you progress that exercise, allowing you to burn more calories with the SAME exercise.
Let’s see this in action…
The classic push-up is an amazing exercise, but some say they are “too easy”.
Ha. Never.
Slow down your tempo and you’ll instantly upgrade the classic Push-up and burn more calories, while reshaping your arms and shoulders. Here’s an Eccentric Push-up:
So, if you find yourself just plain bored or you’re not getting a lot out of your exercises because you have no more weights, try changing the tempo.
Here are a few exercises to try this with:
- Dumbbell Row (you won’t have to change weights to make this exercise harder!_
- Variety of Squats
- Variety of Push-ups and Chest Presses
- Pull-ups and Chin-ups
- TRX or Suspension Rows
- Dozens of Bodyweight Exercises
I think you get the idea.
You don’t have to just increase the tempo or weights to change an exercise.
Keep that body moving 😉
By the way – want a sneaky way to keep that body moving? Get a 15-minute workout sent to your inbox 3 days a week WITH motivation. It’s the strangest combination you’ve ever seen and people are loving it. Go here to find out more.
Later tater,
Mikey “Pancakes” Whitfield, Master CTT