Downshifting without revving up the engine?

Even though I have 7 years of trucking experience, I recently had to go out in a truck with a trainer because I started a job at a new trucking company. My trainer at my new trucking company is named Ed. Ed has a truck with a standard transmission. I asked Ed how much RPM's I need to rev up the truck's engine on a downshift. Ed responded that he does not rev up the engine at all on a downshift. He just said that he downshifts at 1100 RPM's without revving up the engine. During my trainer's shift, I noticed that he does indeed downshift without revving up the engine. When my trainer downshifted without revving up the engine, he did not grind the gears. I should have paid more attention to the cadence of Ed's downshifts.

When I was first trained on how to drive a semi-truck with a standard transmission, my trainer's name was/is Keith. Keith taught me that i can start a downshift at any RPMs, but I just have to rev up the engine 400 RPM's more than whatever the RPM's were when I started the downshift. When I did team driving on trucks with standard transmissions, all my teammates would rev up the engine when doing a downshift. Keith, me, and my teammates could all downshift while revving up the engine without grinding the gears. However, when I tried to downshift the way that Ed downshifted (without revving up the engine), I would grind the gears badly and fail to get the truck into the lower gear. Another thing that I noticed is that when Ed slowed down, Ed would not downshift from one gear to the next like I do. If I am in 10th gear and if I need to slow down, I will downshift from 10th to 9th to 8th to 7th to 6th and so on until I get to 3rd gear or have to put my foot on the clutch and stop. Ed would skip many gears when he downshifted. Ed might downshift from 10th gear to 6th gear.

Are you all familiar with the technique of downshifting without revving up the engine?

I know that a lot of drivers nowadays drive automatics. However, if you drive a standard transmission, or if you used to drive a standard transmission, did you rev up the engine when you did a downshift?

How was Ed able to downshift without revving up the engine?

Was Ed able to downshift without revving up the engine BECAUSE he skipped gears when he downshifted? Is that how Ed was able to downshift without revving up the engine?

If you downshift from, say, 10th to 9th gear without revving up the engine, do you have to shift faster than you would if you revved up the engine or slower than you would if you revved up the engine?

 

Ed downshifted without revving up the engine on flat ground. I saw it countless times with my own eyes. Well, Ed called it downshifting. Maybe what Ed was doing was not what you or me would call downshifting, but maybe what Ed was doing was gear recovery. Do you think that the fact that Ed was downshifting from 10th gear to, say, 6th gear would explain how Ed could "downshift" without revving up the engine?

Or maybe it was a synchronized transmission, whatever that means.

P.S. I think that the quote in your signature line was first spoken or written by Abraham Lincoln.

 

The transmission speed at idle is approximately 600 RPM's. He only slowed down until the RPM's reached 1100.