Should you be lifting heavy as fast as you can or light with slow controlled tension to maximize muscle growth? I'm going to show you in this video the best way to execute your reps if you want to build and create muscle hypertrophy from your workouts. I'm going to break it down with science and show you four examples side by side to make sure you're not wasting more time in the gym using methods that are inferior. There are so many different ways you can lift weights. Most often, it doesn't matter what exercise you perform as the principles apply equally to all. The most important question you should be asking yourself is what is your goal at the moment? For example, if you train for strength then your goal with each exercise should be to do it as efficiently as possible. For example on a bench press, you should make sure you're pushing the bar with good velocity as well as optimal travel with all muscles participating in the lift. On the other hand, if you were to use the bench press as a hypertrophy exercise for the chest in particular, you would need to find a way to decrease the contribution of the triceps and shoulders and favor more of pushing with the chest. Additionally, you should make the movement more inefficient by spending more time in the negative on each rep and also holding and squeezing the contraction of the pecs at the top of each rep as much as possible. If you are instead trying to train for hypertrophy and muscle growth then you should apply this concept of inefficient movement to every exercise you perform. In this video I use the lat pulldown to failure as an example. Now, this is where you want to squeeze your elbows in tight to the sides and back of your body to maximize lat activation. You want to think less about using your forearms to flex the bar down towards you or having your biceps pull too hard on each rep. This will create a lot of tension and direct it to the lats. To accelerate hypertrophy in a particular muscle, this is where this focused tension comes in handy to achieve. That being said, you shouldn't discredit the value of simply taking your 10 rep max on the lift and only performing reps with a certain movement as an overall focus rather than directing your attention to one muscle over another. This is where you'll start to see your reps get easier and peak at the highest level of difficulty towards the final 2-3 reps. However, if you opted for a lighter weight and made each rep harder by focusing the tension on the lats and using intensified techniques like slow negatives and slow reps, you'll be creating a greater stimulus for hypertrophy rather than pure strength. Check out the different variations shown here and see the different effect each has on your ability to build muscle and strength. When you're done watching and ready to start running a program that breaks down all the workouts, sets, and reps you need to build muscle fast, hit the link below and get the program that best fits your current goals.