For those of you who have been fortunate enough to join us for a grinder lately, you’ve seen some new information. Mainly in regards to Sets, Reps, Tempo and Rest. To try and get everyone on the same page, this post is to clarify.

You’ll now see Grinders written something like this:

Chest Press
5×3 30×0 4min

Now let me break down the parts so we can understand what all that means.

5×3: This means Sets x Reps. So in this case, 5 Sets of 3 Reps (not including warm up sets)

30×0: This is the Tempo for the lift. It is written as four separate values, not 30 x o.
The first value (3 in this case) is the LOWERING portion of the lift. (3 seconds to lower the weight)
The second value (o) represents if there is any pause at the BOTTOM of the lift. (no pause in this example)
The third value (x) is time taken to RAISE the load. (x represents moving as fast as possible regardless of actual time taken)
The fourth value  (0) represents if there is any pause at the TOP of the lift. (no pause in this example)
(this tempo scheme has been adopted from OPT)

Finally, the 4 min is how long you will rest between the 5 WORKING SETS. Any warmup sets performed are entirely separate from this prescription.

Which phase of the lift would this represent?