What is eccentric lifting
if you are doing curls, the lift up is called the concentric and the lowering down is called the eccentric or negative. Most people in the gym just concentrate on the lift up and do not work the muscle while lowering the weight. Eccentric muscle contraction was originally called excentric by Danish researcher Erling Asmussen in 1953 to describe the movement away (“ex-“) from the center (“-centric”) of a muscle.
Benefits of eccentric lifting
The primary benefit of eccentric lifting is that it builds fast twitch muscle fiber, which gives you strength. This is in contrast to concentric lifting, which builds slow twitch fibers. Slow twitch fiber gives you endurance.
The other advantage of negative resistance is you use the large muscle group first in the lift and the smaller muscles second. I feel this also reduces injury. I think we all agree a large shock absorber on a car can handle more weight than a small shock absorber. The same principle applies to muscles – large muscles can handle more weight than small muscles.
How to do eccentric lifting
Lower the weights very slowly and do 3-5 sets with 6 or 7 negative reps in each set. At the end of the rep, you and your spotter(s) will raise the bar to the starting position.
Use a weight less than your maximum in each category. For example, if you bench 300 lbs, only do negative reps of 225 lbs. If you deadlift 500 lbs., only do negative reps with 315 lbs. If you try a negative with your max lift, you will risk injury and not employ fast twitch muscle fiber.
I do these 2 to 3 times a week.
Do you lift exclusively with the concentric method?
No, I also lift using the concentric method of lifting.