Lifting tempo: how to read 3010, 31X0 and other tempo codes

Lifting tempo key numbers

What each digit of a tempo code means

A lifting tempo is written as four characters, and each one says how many seconds one phase of the rep takes: 3010 is 3 s of lowering, 0 s of pause in the stretch, 1 s of lifting and 0 s of pause at the top. You'll also see the same code with dashes or slashes (3-0-1-0, 3/0/1/0) or with three digits and no pause at the top: 311 (3-1-1) is 3 s down, a 1 s pause and 1 s up. If the digits don't fit the movement, check the plan's legend, because some coaches order the phases differently.

First digit: the lowering, or eccentric phase

The eccentric phase is the part of a rep where the muscle lengthens under load, usually the lowering; the concentric phase is where the muscle shortens and you lift the weight. In the bench press the eccentric is lowering the bar to your chest, and in the lat pulldown it's the bar going back up as your arms straighten.

A longer lowering phase doesn't build more muscle on its own: in a meta-analysis of 9 studies, the effect on muscle size was close to zero and uncertain, while strength in trained lifters went up similarly or more (Amdi and King 2025). Training only the lowering, with help on the way up, is called negative reps.

Second and fourth digits: the pause in the stretch and at the top

The second digit is the pause where the muscle is most stretched: the bar on your chest, the bottom of a squat, arms straight with the bar up in a lat pulldown. The fourth digit is the pause after the lift: in leg extensions or lat pulldowns it's a squeeze in the contraction, and in the squat and bench press a breath with your joints locked out.

A pause reduces the bounce, the elastic energy from a fast turnaround into the lift (Wilk et al. 2020), so reps become comparable: in 17 trained lifters, a 2 s pause made lifting velocity at the same weight more repeatable (Pallarés et al. 2014). That's the idea behind the paused bench press and the paused squat; the pause usually lasts about 1 s in the bench press and 1-3 s in the squat.

The X: lifting as fast as you can

An X only ever goes in third place and means lifting with maximal intended velocity, e.g. a barbell squat at a 20X0 tempo. With a heavy weight, X is the intent, not the speed: above 85% of 1RM even a maximal effort produces a slow lift (Wilk et al. 2021).

Deliberately slowing the lift costs strength: after 6 weeks of bench pressing, 1RM went up 10% with a slower lift and 18% when lifting as fast as possible (González-Badillo et al. 2014). In a meta-analysis of 15 studies, fast and moderately slow reps produced similar strength gains (Davies et al. 2017), so the X takes nothing away, but it doesn't guarantee a gain either.

Lifts that start with the concentric

The order of the digits never changes, but in the deadlift, pull-ups, rows and curls you start the first rep with the lift, that is, from the third digit.

Read a Deadlift at 21X0 like this: you pull the bar off the floor as fast as you can (X), don't pause at lockout (0), lower it under control over 2 s (2) and let it rest on the floor for a second (1). Here the second digit isn't a pause under load but a dead stop: every rep starts from zero, with no bounce. You read the pull-up from a dead hang and the lat pulldown the same way: 2011 is 1 s of pulling, a second with the bar at your chest, 2 s on the way back and straight into the next rep.

When lifting tempo matters

Tempo on its own doesn't build more muscle: with reps from 0.5 to 8 s, growth was similar, and in those studies every set ended at failure (Schoenfeld et al. 2015). A slower tempo at the same rep count takes a set closer to failure, so how hard a set is still comes down to intensity, meaning the weight, and RIR. You write down a tempo mainly so that 80 kg × 8 today means the same as 80 kg × 8 a month from now.

How to train with a tempo

1. When you stretch the lowering to 4-5 s, start about 10% lighter, e.g. go from 80 kg to 72.5 kg on the barbell bench press, and adjust after the first set by RIR.
2. Count the seconds in your head (“one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two”) or run a metronome at 60 beats per minute.
3. Pause under load and under tension: the bar sits still on your chest but you don't let it sink, and your shoulder blades stay pulled back; in the squat, keep your torso braced at the bottom. On a cable machine the plates hang just above the stack, because plates resting on the stack are already a rest. In dumbbell flyes, pause low, but before you feel a pull in the front of your shoulder.
4. Keep the same tempo for an exercise through the whole mesocycle, because only then can you see progressive overload. Change the tempo with a new block, e.g. from a paused 31X0 bench press to 20X0 in a strength block, and record new baseline results.

A slower tempo costs reps: at 70% of 1RM, five bench press sets to failure added up to 16 reps when both the lowering and the lift were slow (6040), against 28 at 2020 (Wilk et al. 2018). That's why the 1RM calculator will show a lower estimated 1RM from a slow set.

Tempo examples in kilograms and seconds

In SmartWorkout plans for intermediates, the first compound lift of the day usually has a 20X0 tempo, because you lift a heavy rep as fast as you can anyway. The other exercises get a 2-3 s lowering, and 1-2 exercises for a priority muscle group often get a 1 s pause in the stretch. The table shows week 2 of the 4-day upper/lower plan and the chest priority plan.

Tempo on cables, machines and dumbbells

A tempo is easiest to hold on machines and cables, because they guide the path of the movement.

Tempo vs time under tension and negatives

Common mistakes

1. Slow lifting for the “feel”. A 3-4 s lift doesn't build more muscle, and in some studies it produced smaller strength gains (see the X above); reps longer than 10 s did worse, though there are few studies (Schoenfeld et al. 2015). Keep control on the way down and lift in 1 s or with an X.
2. Bouncing instead of 0. A 0 in second place is a smooth turnaround without a stop, not a bounce: the bar touches your chest without hitting it and moves up under muscle power.
3. Jerking on the X. If your hips come off the bench or your shoulder blades shift on the X, lift slower until your setup stops changing.
4. Counting on heavy sets. With a heavy weight close to failure, counting seconds can be impossible and may hurt your technique (Wilk et al. 2021); on the last reps, watch only the bar path.

What the research says about tempo

It's unknown whether the pause in the stretch on its own changes muscle growth, because training studies changed it together with other phases of the rep.

What SmartWorkout logs show

The most common codes give a rep of 3-5 s, the middle of the range in which studies see no difference in muscle growth. Every number is based on at least 50 people.

How to log tempo in SmartWorkout

You set the tempo in SmartWorkout per exercise: the four characters apply to all its sets, in the workout log, in templates and in plans.

1. Find the “TEMPO” field below the exercise's sets. If it isn't there, open Profile > Settings > “Workout Settings” and turn on “Show tempo” in the “Workout Tempo” section.
2. Tap the field and enter four characters, e.g. 3010. You can enter an X only in third place.
3. Or tap the “TEMPO” label and pick a preset tempo from the “Set tempo for exercise” list.

This fragment combines the exercises and tempos from both plans in the table above into one day, with a pause on the chest (31X0) in the bench press. You can paste it through plan import (Workout > My Plans > “+” > “Import plan”). Import costs 10 AI credits, so the welcome credits cover it.

DAY: Upper A- Barbell Bench Press | WU 2x5 | 3x6-10 RIR 2 | TEMPO 31X0 | REST 180- Cable Lat Pulldown | 3x8-12 RIR 1 | TEMPO 2011 | REST 120- Dumbbell Chest Fly | 3x10-15 RIR 1 | TEMPO 3110 | REST 60- Seated Incline Biceps Curl | 3x10-15 RIR 1 | TEMPO 3010 | REST 60

The help article on logging RIR, RPE and tempo explains how tempo works in the app.