Okay, based on what I've experienced and seen from other people, there's a good amount of variation allowed in between reps, but the details change quite a lot.
For example, doing slow negatives and generally slow movements is said to work the muscles harder, but ideally there should be no actual time of inactivity between the movements (Inactivity being the top of a pushup or bottom of a pullup). Reps shouldn't be done too fast, but I don't think that realistically there's a fear of doing them too slowly, it makes them harder and hence more work is done as less momentum is used.
For actual numbers, 6x6 for strength, 3x12 for mass, I like to alternate between the two each few months to allow even development. It also allows me to break plateaus with either setup by changing intensity of each exercise. Yes, you can gain fair amounts of mass with cals, but their main service is providing a much higher proportional strength than that of lifting.
And I hope for your sake you aren't following the recommended amount of reps for progressions in CC, they're ridiculously high.
For example, doing slow negatives and generally slow movements is said to work the muscles harder, but ideally there should be no actual time of inactivity between the movements (Inactivity being the top of a pushup or bottom of a pullup). Reps shouldn't be done too fast, but I don't think that realistically there's a fear of doing them too slowly, it makes them harder and hence more work is done as less momentum is used.
For actual numbers, 6x6 for strength, 3x12 for mass, I like to alternate between the two each few months to allow even development. It also allows me to break plateaus with either setup by changing intensity of each exercise. Yes, you can gain fair amounts of mass with cals, but their main service is providing a much higher proportional strength than that of lifting.
And I hope for your sake you aren't following the recommended amount of reps for progressions in CC, they're ridiculously high.
