Movement, Intention, & Strength
TL;DR: The quality of your movement directly affects the quality of your strength. Here is the research; here is how you can use it this week.
- Your body builds strength and muscle based on the signal it gets.
-Rush the rep, and you send a weak signal.
- Research on older adults shows controlled, deliberate reps build more muscle and strength.
- Try it this week: lower for 3 seconds, pause for 1, drive up like you mean it.
Sometimes the hardest part of exercise is just getting in the car and getting to the gym. That's a deliberate decision. You made it.
But then I watch people get here and go through the motions. Literally. The reps are happening, but I'm not sure anyone is home. It's more of an "I checked the box" workout than an "I got stronger today" workout.
So I want to make this abundantly clear...
The quality of your movement directly affects the quality of your strength.
Here's what that difference looks like on a goblet squat.
A RUSHED REP
Drop fast. Bounce off the bottom. Swing back up. Done in a second.
Momentum does most of the work. Your knees and hips soak up the load.
Outcomes: Injury-prone, randomly sore from things that you think shouldn't make you sore, Gaps in strength, you question if the gym is working for you.
THE INTENTIONAL REP
Lower for 3 seconds. Sit at the bottom for 1 second. Stand up quickly & controlled. Actively feel the tension of the movement.
Outcome: Resilient connective tissue, Strong through full ranges of motion, feels like the gym is making them stronger than you thought possible.
Same exercise. Same weight. Completely different workout STIMULUS & thus different result.
The Research:
A 2026 meta-analysis of 16 studies and about 800 older adults found controlled, deliberate reps did better for building muscle and strength. A 2023 meta-analysis of 79 trials found that dynamic efforts (reps done as fast as possible) did better for everyday stuff like getting out of a chair, preventing falls, etc.
So training with intention (either control or dynamic effort) both were shown to make people stronger. The unintentional reps keep you fragile & stagnant… makes sense when you think about it.
Another interesting study looked at the verbal cues and how they impact the intention of a lift. Lifters told to focus on the muscle during curls grew their biceps almost twice as much as lifters who just moved the weight in this 2018 study. Cool!
Go ahead, try it for yourself
Can't control the 3-second lowering? Drop the weight 10 to 20%.
Expect to feel humbled the first week. That's how you know it's working.
Want me to check your form?
Reply with a quick video of one set, and I'll tell you what I see.