If you’re struggling to advance your big lifts, or your form needs some refinement, there’s a strength training technique that may help you get closer to achieving your goal: pause reps.
There’s no mystery here – a pause rep is exactly what it says on the tin. ‘It’s when you implement a brief pause, usually at the bottom of a movement or at the portion of the movement that is most challenging, and most likely where someone struggles,’ explains PT Andy Vincent. ‘So, for example, at the bottom of a push up, at the point at which the thigh is parallel to the ground in a squat, or the lowest part of a Romanian deadlift.’
Typically, the hold in a pause rep is around 2-3 seconds long, though this can vary depending on what you’re training for. And, realistically, you’d only do pause reps on one or two exercises in a session, according to Vincent. ‘The one thing I would say about using pauses in training is that, generally, it is for a purpose, not just for the sake of variety.’
How can you use pause reps to progress your training? Keep reading to find out.
How effective are pause reps?
When used appropriately, pause reps have the potential to significantly progress your training. There are four main reasons you might incorporate them into your programme, according to Vincent. These are:
1. To build capacity
Vincent rates pause reps for building capacity in what is usually the hardest part of a particular lift. This, essentially, means increasing your body’s ability to withstand volume and stress during the most challenging part of an exercise, which builds strength and helps you lift heavier.
2. To reinforce confidence in a specific part of your range of motion
‘For example, if someone is struggling to get deep into a squat, it helps that individual spend more time there to get a sense of how deep to go,’ Vincent explains. Increased time under tension in a particularly challenging part of an exercise helps the body become more familiar with the movement pattern, builds strength and enables you to build up confidence over time. It’s a technique that can help you target specific weaknesses in your training, and massively improve your lifts.
3. To reinforce technique and posture
Without necessarily meaning to, you might be making your lifts less effective by utilising momentum. ‘People might be bouncing a barbell off their chest on the bench press or bouncing at the bottom of a squat,’ says Vincent. This reduces muscle engagement and compromises form meaning that, best case scenario, your session isn’t as impactful as you intended it to be. Worst case, you risk injury. ‘Implementing a pause just helps to reinforce the position,’ Vincent says. It encourages you to slow down and really focus on quality form.
4. To reduce load
‘Pause reps are a great tool for reducing how much load someone needs to use at any particular rep range,’ says Vincent. This is because when you implement pause reps, you can’t lift your maximum load. ‘It’s a great way of getting a good training stimulus off slightly lower load selection,’ Vincent adds. ‘It can be useful for anyone who is looking to decrease loading, for example, on the spine in squats or on the shoulder girdle on the bench press.’ Similarly, if you’re short on equipment while travelling, for example, pause reps allow you to increase the challenge without increasing the weight.
Of course, if you do want to utilise pause reps purely for variety every once in a while, you absolutely can – just bear in mind that random training is unlikely to support your long-term goals. They’re most effective, Vincent says, when used to improve technique, joint position, bar speed or to work around injury. ‘Also, if someone has gone up through the loads quite quickly and they rush through their reps, it is just a nice way to keep their ego in check,’ he says. This is important for managing injury risk.
It’s also worth flagging that, because you work with a lighter load when doing pause reps, if used too much the technique could limit your load progression ‘That might be what you want for some things, but it might not be,’ says Vincent. ‘So, once again, make sure that if you are going to use them, you have a purpose for using them.’
How to do pause reps
You can implement a pause at almost any point you want to during an exercise, according to Vincent. Generally speaking, though, it’s going to be in the most challenging part of the movement. ‘The idea is that it builds confidence in this position or teaches an individual to be really explosive out of this range of motion to improve bar speed,’ he says. Simply hold for 2-3 seconds, before finishing the exercise.
‘The one place you are definitely not going to put pauses is in the lockout of a lift where there is no tension, or any part of the movement that is easy, because there is no reason to add pauses to these portions of the movement,’ Vincent says.
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Abbi Henderson is Acting Nutrition writer who covers health, fitness, women’s sport and lifestyle for Women’s Health and Men’s Health. Before settling in a British seaside town, she spent a couple of years living in Canada, where she contributed to publications such as Best Health, Foodism and Canadian Living, and discovered she is, in fact, a little outdoorsy. With a desire to help make healthcare, exercise and sport more accessible to women, she writes about everything from the realities of seeking medical support as a woman to those of being a female athlete fighting for equality. She has a personal trainer qualification, a couple of medals from her short time in competitive Irish dancing, and an Arsenal Women season ticket. When she’s not in front of a screen working, she enjoys weightlifting, going for walks and stopping for little treats (matchas and pastries), and trying new recipes (that are almost always pasta-based).