Terminology and Tempo

JT Scott | 07/20/2016 | 1

We’ve done some pause squats in the past, and they’re great for making sure you stay tight at the bottom of your lifts. We’ve also done tempo work, particularly for a 6 week cycle on our pullups and pushups.

Today we’re doing a little of both in our Strength work, and this is as good a time as any to talk about the terminology of tempo.

The lift is written as HBBS 32×1. What does that mean? Let’s break it down:

HBBS = High Bar Back Squat. Bar resting on the top of the shoulders, thumbs fully around the bar.

3: The number of seconds you spend in the eccentric (descending) phase of the lift. Count to 3 as you go down. This is SLOW.

2: The number of seconds you spend at the BOTTOM of the lift. This is the “pause” in your squat. Do it.

X: The number of seconds you spend coming UP from the bottom in the concentric (ascending) phase of the lift. Yes, X. This is not a number, but it emphasizes that the drive up out of the bottom should be powerful and fast.

1: The amount of time you spend standing at the top before starting to go down again. 1 second is a VERY SHORT amount of time. Just enough to be sure you’re reset and start going down again.

So for today, what this all adds up to is a very challenging triple of back squats – one that will not come close to your traditional 3-rep max in all likelihood, but will be very useful for spending a lot of time under tension and increasing your tightness and power. Let’s get after it!

For the WOD, just another double-up. It’ll be fun. Scale those pullups to jumping pullups if you need to go in order to go fast and keep moving…

Strength:
HBBS 32X1
3-3-3-3-3

WOD:
AMRAP 5
15 pull ups
15 jumping air squats
2min rest
AMRAP 5
15 Hang power clean (95/65)
60 Double unders