I often see people at the small gym that I use lifting at what I call "warp speed." For example, another woman and I were doing bicep curls at the same time, and for every curl I did, she did two. I'm assuming people lift fast because they don't have much time, but it's so prevalent that I'm thinking they know something I don't. Is it beneficial to lift so fast? What are the pros and cons of warp speed lifting?

Is the warp speed lifting accompanied by atrocious form? Like the bicep curl lady - is she getting her legs and back into it and really swinging those DBs up and down? I'm no expert, but when I see that superfast lifting, it's usually too much weight done with terrible form. I think the speed gives you momentum to haul up too much weight - often you see people like that flinging their bodies around and getting all sorts of help from body parts they're not working. It's a wonder they don't hurt themselves or others, but I guess they're impressing themselves with how much weight they think they're lifting.

Or else she could be lifting that fast because the weight is so light that she's not at all challenged by it.

I try for *very* controlled lifting, not fast or slow, resisting the negative, with no swinging or momentum. I may not lift as much weight as the speed demons but I think I get a lot more out of it.

But I'm no expert and maybe there are legit reasons to lift that way.

Sheila ~~ Warp speed lifting ( I like that term BTW ) is totally wrong... Like Meg said it's probably that the weight is too heavy or too light...

I've never heard of a 'legit reason' to lift that way Meg ... I think the lady is probably trying to get 30 reps in because she doesn't want to 'bulk up', my personal pet peeve

I see folks lifting like that frequently in my gym - but I've never thought to call it Warp Speed...sounds like something you'd hear at the command deck of the Enterprise.

We have this one guy who SPECIALIZES in it...he always has a copy of the newspaper with him - I know his whole routine now...he gets the 2 1/2 lb weights, one in each hand and pumps his arms very very fast (kind of like when you run, with your arms bent...I always think of Choo Choo Charlie and the old Good & Plenty commercials) for like 30 seconds...then he sits down on one of the machines and reads the Chronicle for a couple minutes (I guess that's his recovery time!) then repeats.

His leg extension routine consists of setting the weight at like 20 or 30 lbs, then doing the exercise so fast that the pad bounces up and down off his shin...of course he does this WHILE he's reading the paper... aiyiyiyi.

Was she using the pink dumbbells...?

OMG, I have clones of these folks at my gym too! Along with the high school kid (looks like one anyway) who thinks it's "cool" to clank the stack of weights down with every rep! Or the grunters! I haven't been lifting all that long, but everyone who's advice I sought told me that slower is better, and no using the weight for momentum!

Karen -- Was that guy using pink dumbells too? I guess there are loosers at every gym

Well, actually she was lifting 17.5 lbs. dumbells (not pink!), and I lift 15 lbs. for bicep curls so I was pretty impressed with that and now I know there's a weight in between 15 and 20. She WAS swinging her whole upper body, though, which looks kind of painful to me. But she's young so maybe doing that wouldn't have the same effect on young muscles as it would on my older muscles.

It's still bad for your back whether you are young or older. You'll just feel the effects sooner if you are older She's not getting the full effect of those 17.5 pound dbs if she's swinging her back, so don't be too impressed.