the right tempo for quickness, speed, and strength

[timm3r]

I read up on some threads on tempo, super-slow, etc. but none of these threads answered my question.  what is the right tempo to benefit quickness, speed, and strength?

I've heard some people say that while doing a squat, you should explode coming up because that builds quickness, but you do less weight and you don't gain as much strength.  but you can't always trust what one person says. 

What type of tempo do a lot of athletes do to keep up their speed and quickness?  my current workouts are followed by a routine from a book called "The Book of Muscle" by Ian King and Lou Schouler,  and the tempo they use in the book uses mostly a 3-1-1, 2-0-1, or a 2-1-1 tempo.  Would this tempo slow me down?  I play a lot of basketball competitively and for fun and i absolutely do not want to get any slower or lose speed on my jumps.

[Bluto]

There's a lot of theories about it but personally it's not something I concern myself with much. It depends on the lift too - let's say you're doing t-bar rows Ronnie Coleman style you would want to do them a little faster and more aggressive, where as in doing barbbell curls you would want to "squeeze" more and not throw the weight around.

In your case I think what you might look for is more sport specific training which would be Plyometrics, read about it here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plyometrics

[Hedgehog]

I read up on some threads on tempo, super-slow, etc. but none of these threads answered my question.  what is the right tempo to benefit quickness, speed, and strength?

I've heard some people say that while doing a squat, you should explode coming up because that builds quickness, but you do less weight and you don't gain as much strength.  but you can't always trust what one person says. 

What type of tempo do a lot of athletes do to keep up their speed and quickness?  my current workouts are followed by a routine from a book called "The Book of Muscle" by Ian King and Lou Schouler,  and the tempo they use in the book uses mostly a 3-1-1, 2-0-1, or a 2-1-1 tempo.  Would this tempo slow me down?  I play a lot of basketball competitively and for fun and i absolutely do not want to get any slower or lose speed on my jumps.

What is more important is the amount of reps you perform.

Stick with 1-3 reps, and always with fairly good speed, and you won't lose speed, contrary, you will become faster.

Snatches, Clean and jerks and hang cleans, instead of squats and deadlifts.

If you do squat and deadlift, always few reps and with good speed.

Also: Ditch excersises that don't contribute to your basketball. Such as benchpress and biceps curl.

Some shoulder presses and DB rows could be beneficial.

And do reverse lateral raises and lots of heavy ab work.

[timm3r]

thanks for the info on plyometrics, i'm definitely going to give that a shot.  also for me, i hate doing low reps.  it seems to put me in a much higher chance of injuring myself during a workout, especially since the load is a lot, but if you say so i'll also give that a shot.

[WOOO]

thanks for the info on plyometrics, i'm definitely going to give that a shot.  also for me, i hate doing low reps.  it seems to put me in a much higher chance of injuring myself during a workout, especially since the load is a lot, but if you say so i'll also give that a shot.

just be sure you are warmed up first... doing some suicides or just playing some pick up first is a good way to go... that way when you hit the weights your joints are warm and your muscles are loose

[Bluto]

thanks for the info on plyometrics, i'm definitely going to give that a shot.  also for me, i hate doing low reps.  it seems to put me in a much higher chance of injuring myself during a workout, especially since the load is a lot, but if you say so i'll also give that a shot.

just google plyometrics and you might find routines and specific exercises that target your sport. i know there's whole books, videos etc on the subject