Every time you perform a set of repetitions, you follow a certain rhythm. If asked what tempo their reps are done at, most people will either shrug or raise an eyebrow, as many people don’t consider tempo when training. It’s common for the average gym goer to follow a typical 1010 pace, meaning they spend the same amount of time flexing the muscle being worked as they do relaxing it. For example, someone following a tempo of 1010 spends as much time pushing up as they do going down to the ground. A tempo of 1010 is very typical for cardio workouts as it increases activity and calories burned. However, for mass and strength gains, your priorities should be different. Similar to how we decrease reps and increase weight for strength exercises, we also need to manipulate the rate at which we do our reps to maximize gains during workouts.

Before delving too deeply into an explanation of how to set the most effective tempo for strength gains, it is important to understand how tempo is measured in these cases. There are several tempos, so it’s important to know what the numbers really mean. In the case of 1010, the first number defines the amount of time spent in the eccentric phase, or the “relaxing” phase of the exercise. The 0 indicates the amount of time spent pausing after the relaxation phase. The third digit indicates the time spent in the concentric phase, or the phase in which the exercising muscle flexes. The last digit indicates the amount of time spent pausing after the concentric phase. To help visualize this, in a pushup, the eccentric phase is bending your arms and lowering toward the ground, and the concentric phase is pushing yourself up. So, at a tempo of 1010, a second is spent going down, then a second going up, with no pauses before or after either of these movements. For a 4010 tempo, 4 seconds are spent bending the arms and lowering towards the ground, and one is spent pushing up. For exercises that require explosiveness and fast bending, the tempo may include an “X” instead of a number. This is commonly seen at the Olympics, where X0X0 tempo lifts are commonly performed; Explosive eccentric and concentric phases, without pauses before or after. For hypertrophy exercises and mass gain attempts, the most effective and commonly used tempo is 40X0.

By taking tempo into account, changes can be made to the amount of time muscles spend under tension. Time under tension, or TUT, is a measure of how long a muscle, or group of muscles, is under the weight of the load. When it comes to strength training and maximizing muscle mass, more TUT is needed. For kettlebell strength training, 40-70 seconds of TUT is the optimal time frame, any amount shorter than this would result in fewer hypertrophic gains. Basic calculations can be made to see the difference in time under tension between tempo and non-tempo training. Taking a look at the real-world variation in the different tempos being used is a good way to paint a picture of why it’s so important to include tempo training in your kettlebell workouts for strength gains. For example, for an overhead press with typical 1010 kettlebells, a single rep will take about a second to push off and a second to relax, making the total rep duration about 2 seconds. Over the course of about 12 reps per set, this equates to 24 seconds of TUT. However, if you stick to tempo training, the length of a single repetition will change. If you switch to a kettlebell press at a 40X0 pace, the flex will be immediate and there will be no pause at the apex before dropping the weight and relaxing for 4 seconds. When the kettlebell returns to the resting position, there is no pause and it is immediately lifted for the next rep. Total time for this rep is about 5 seconds, with a total TUT of 60 seconds for a set of 12 reps. When tempo is taken into account, the same weight, reps, and sets can be used to achieve better strength training results. This is why tempo training is so important for real mass and strength gains. If you only look at reps and sets and don’t take into account the time it takes to complete each, you’ll be missing out on big strength and mass gains in your kettlebell training.

When their goals are to increase strength and mass, many people tend to increase the weight of the kettlebell they are using and make adjustments to sets and reps to maximize muscle gains. Although this is an effective way to build strength, it’s important to note that the tempo can also be altered to get the most out of each rep. Although it may require more focus, tempo training is one of the most effective ways to successfully reach your kettlebell strength training goals.