Does lifting slow or fast make you bigger?
How Slow Should You Go? A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Resistance Training Repetition Tempo on Muscle Hypertrophy
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Faster tempos had a slightly higher pooled hypertrophy estimate (0.43 vs. 0.34), but the difference was statistically insignificant (p = 0.450).
Most trainers preach slow eccentrics for muscle growth — this shows the opposite trend (even if tiny) favors speed, and it’s still not meaningful.
Practical Takeaways
Stop timing your reps unless you're rehabbing or training for a specific sport — focus on lifting to near failure with good form instead.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Faster tempos had a slightly higher pooled hypertrophy estimate (0.43 vs. 0.34), but the difference was statistically insignificant (p = 0.450).
Most trainers preach slow eccentrics for muscle growth — this shows the opposite trend (even if tiny) favors speed, and it’s still not meaningful.
Practical Takeaways
Stop timing your reps unless you're rehabbing or training for a specific sport — focus on lifting to near failure with good form instead.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research
Year
2025
Authors
Alysson Enes, A. Piñero, Thomas Hermann, Arman Zamanzadeh, T. Hennessy, Daniel Montenegro, Chris Parnell, Albert Jia, Tami Weitzman, Milo Wolf, P. Korakakis, P. Swinton, Brad J. Schoenfeld
Related Content
Claims (10)
To figure out whether speeding up or slowing down the lifting vs. lowering part of a weight workout makes your muscles grow more, scientists need to test each part separately—not at the same time.
How fast or slow you lift and lower weights doesn’t matter as much for building muscle as how much weight you lift, how many reps you do, or how close you push yourself to failure.
If you lift and lower weights quickly or slowly, as long as you do both phases the same way, your muscles grow about the same amount—speed doesn’t make a big difference.
Lifting weights fast or slow doesn’t make much difference in how much your muscles grow — the extra gain from going slow is practically nothing.
How fast or slow you lift and lower weights probably doesn’t make much difference in how much muscle you build—unless there’s some special situation we haven’t figured out yet.