Tempo squat percentage
What a slow descent actually costs — and why it costs less than a pause.
A range, not a number — because the same variation costs one lifter 4% and another 14%. The app turns it into a single weight and remembers your coefficient.
Want the exact number?Set the pause and the eccentric, pick reps and RPE, get one weight — and the app learns your own coefficient.
Get the free appWhat percentage should you use for tempo squats?
A tempo squat with a 3-second eccentric is typically 92–97% of your competition squat, and 88–95% with a 5-second descent. Lowering slowly adds time under tension and bleeds off elastic energy, but it does not change your leverages, so the drop is smaller than with a long pause.
Eccentric length and typical load
| Variation | Typical range | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Normal descent | 100% | The reference |
| 3 seconds down | 92–97% | Most common tempo prescription |
| 4 seconds down | 90–96% | Fatigue starts to dominate |
| 5 seconds down | 88–95% | Technique work more than strength work |
| Tempo plus pause | 85–92% | The two effects multiply |
Tempo versus pause: not the same thing
A slow eccentric and a pause both take weight off the bar, but for different reasons. The pause removes the elastic rebound at the bottom. The tempo drains you on the way down: your muscles are producing force for three or five seconds before the concentric even begins.
Because the leverages are unchanged and part of the stretch reflex survives a slow descent, tempo work usually costs less than a real pause of the same length. A 3-second descent and a 3-second pause are not interchangeable — the pause is the harder of the two.
They also do not overlap. If you program a 3-second descent and a 2-second pause in the same set, the two effects multiply, and the honest load is meaningfully lower than either one alone would suggest.
What moves your number
- Conditioning: tempo work is as much a fatigue test as a strength test, especially above 3 reps.
- Whether you actually control the descent or just fall slowly for the last third.
- Rep count: tempo sets get disproportionately harder as reps go up.
- Whether the tempo is combined with a pause, which multiplies rather than adds.
How to find your own number
Three sessions and a bit of honesty are enough to replace the range with your own coefficient.
- Work up to a set of 3 on the tempo squat and stop at RPE 8 — two reps left in the tank, honestly judged.
- Divide the weight you used by the weight you would have used for 3 reps @ RPE 8 on your competition squat. That ratio is your coefficient.
- Repeat it once or twice over a training block. If the number holds within a couple of percent, that is your number — use it instead of the range.
PRO What the app does with it
- Applies the pause and the eccentric on top of the variation, second by second — the first second costs the most, the following ones progressively less.
- Crosses it with the RPE chart, so you get the weight for 3 reps @ RPE 8 on that variation, not just a max.
- Learns your personal coefficient from a set you actually did, then remembers it for every future session.
- Works offline, in the gym, with the plates already worked out.
Stop guessing on your variation days
RPE Calculator for Android is free. The variation calculator — pause, tempo, deficit, boards — comes with the one-time Pro unlock. No subscription.
Get the free app Launching on Google Play — final testingFree download · Pro is a single one-time unlock · No subscription
Frequently asked questions
How much weight for a 3 second tempo squat?
Usually 92–97% of your competition squat max for the same reps and RPE. The drop is smaller than most lifters expect, because leverages are unchanged.
Is tempo harder than a pause?
For the same number of seconds, a pause almost always costs more weight. The pause removes the elastic rebound entirely; a slow descent only reduces it.
Do tempo squats work above 6 reps?
They do, but the RPE chart becomes unreliable there: long time under tension builds metabolic fatigue that no rep-to-percentage table predicts. Treat high-rep tempo targets as a starting point and adjust by feel.