Geschatte leestijd: 7 minutenEccentric training is a training form that can increase your muscle mass more than concentric training, the training form that is usually used. Although it has been applied by bodybuilders for decades, this training form, also known as “negative training”, is still unknown or underestimated.
This article aims to introduce you to the principle of eccentric training, how to apply it to your training, and its benefits as demonstrated in research.
What is Eccentric Training?
Muscle tension (contraction) can be divided into three phases: Concentric, isometric, and eccentric. I will explain these phases using the biceps as an example.
Concentric Contraction
The “engines of the muscle”, the parts that cause muscle fibers to lengthen and shorten, are the so-called actin and myosin filaments. These slide over each other to shorten and glide apart to lengthen. Think of it like a telescope for illustration.
When you bend a stretched arm by tensing the biceps, the actin and myosin filaments slide over each other. The muscle fibers in the biceps are then shortened. The biceps attach to one side of the shoulder and to the other side of the forearm. By shortening the biceps, the forearm is pulled towards the shoulder. This part of the muscle movement in which it is shortened under tension is called concentric contraction.
If someone says, “Tense your biceps,” the other person will usually bend their arm. However, there are two more methods in which you can tense these muscles.
Isometric Contraction
Once the arm is bent, you can keep it bent by continuing to tense it so the filaments stay slid over each other. The muscle fibers then maintain the same length. This tensioning of the muscle where the fibers maintain the same length is called isometric contraction.
Eccentric Contraction
You will have guessed (or already know) that eccentric contraction is the part where the arm is straightened again. However, the magic word here is “contraction”, which means as much as tensing a muscle.
You can also straighten the arm from a bent position by just releasing the tension. The hand would then naturally fall down due to gravity.
However, eccentric contraction means that you lengthen the muscle while it is tensed.
More Hypertrophy and Therefore More Muscle Mass Through Eccentric Training
Eccentric training leads to more muscle growth than concentric training as demonstrated in various studies.
Eccentrically, muscles can handle a greater load than concentrically (1). This greater load causes more microtrauma (the small tears in muscle tissue from training). More microtrauma means more recovery which leads to muscle growth, or hypertrophy. [1,2,3,4,5].
In one study, for example, trained test subjects were used. In this study, concentric training led to no additional muscle mass. Eccentric training, however, did lead to extra muscle mass in the same group [4]. In other studies, there was a result in both cases, but it was significantly greater in the case of eccentric training.
Eccentric Training in Practice: “What Goes Down, Must Come Up”
In the example of the biceps, you can also let the hand drop slowly. Then the biceps would have to remain slightly tensed to resist gravity. Then you’re talking about eccentric contraction, albeit with very low intensity.
Now, if you take a weight in your hands and need to let the hand drop slowly again, the intensity obviously increases.
Now, the ‘technical challenge’ is that you can handle more weight eccentrically than concentrically and isometrically [1]. During concentric contraction, you have to overcome gravity to get the forearm and hand up. During isometric contraction, the tension must be sufficient to match the force of gravity to keep the forearm and hand lifted. With eccentric contraction, less force is needed because you let gravity win to lower the arm (controlled).
This means that a concentric contraction with a dumbbell of, for example, 20 kilos forms a heavier intensity than that same 20 kg during the eccentric part of the repetition.
If you train eccentrically, you actually want the eccentric part of an exercise to be heavier than the concentric part. Since this is naturally the opposite, you will need to apply some tricks.
You may be able to handle more weight when letting the dumbbell drop in the biceps exercise, but you will still need to lift it up first. In other words: “What goes down, must come up”.
For the latter part, you use help, from yourself or someone else.
Eccentric Training with a Partner
The easiest way to train eccentrically is with a training partner. This person can help you lift the weight that is good for the eccentric part but too heavy for the concentric part.
During the concentric part, you get help while you then have to do the eccentric part alone. With bench pressing, for example, you are helped with the pressing while you have to let the bar drop alone.
You can even choose to have the partner work against you during the eccentric part and push the weight down to increase intensity. The advantage of this is that you need to use less weight that needs to be lifted first. The downside is that the load is difficult to control. Your training partner has to do this by feel.
With a partner, you can apply eccentric training to almost any exercise.
Also read the article: Spotting, the meaning, explanation, and 10 tips
Eccentric Training Without a Partner
Alone, this is a bit trickier and requires a bit more creativity. You then have to be your own helper. This only works with exercises that you perform unilaterally, so with one leg or arm at a time. The arm or leg that you are not training at the moment then helps.
For the biceps exercise with dumbbells, let the other hand help lift the weight. Then you let it drop with one arm again.
With a leg press, for example, you push out with two legs and let the weight drop with one leg. You do bench pressing the same way, but in a Smith machine. So you can push out with two arms and let it drop back with one arm. The Smith machine ensures that the bar remains straight in the rack.
Speed of Execution of Eccentric Exercises
An important point in eccentric training is the speed at which you let the weight drop. If you let the hand drop all at once, you either did not try to provide enough resistance. Or the weight was too heavy to provide resistance for more than one second. If you manage to let the weight drop in 20 seconds, then the weight was too light.
Research has shown that one second of resistance yields the most muscle growth, where the load should be so great that you could not offer resistance for longer [6,7]. Those same studies, however, have seen many participants drop out with injuries.
Eccentric training forms a heavy load. If it is so great that you can only hold the weight for a second, then the attachments always get a huge jerk. This can lead to possible injuries.
Moreover, there is a good chance that you let the weight drop faster and faster and eventually offer no resistance at all. My advice, therefore, is to let the weight drop in 2-3 seconds. Fast enough to be able to use enough weight for sufficient resistance and slow enough to prevent injuries and sloppy training.
Once you are used to this, you can choose to work towards one second as long as the execution remains correct.
Limit the Number of Eccentric Exercises and/or Sets per Muscle Group
The large number of injuries that participants in studies on eccentric training incurred had several causes.
In addition to the speed at which they had to let the weight drop (and thus the intensity with which they had to train), there were two other reasons.
First, the participants were untrained and were then subjected to a heavier training method than most trained strength athletes (who mainly train concentrically).
In addition, as these studies themselves have shown, eccentric training leads to more or faster microtrauma. This increases the chance of overtraining and injuries, especially if you do not take this into account with the number of exercises, sets, and/or reps.
So, do for example one set per exercise or just one exercise per muscle group focused on eccentric contractions. You can possibly build this up later.
Eccentric as Part of Your Regular Training
In the gym, you see almost all attention focused on the concentric part. The eccentric part is then often neglected by letting weights drop too quickly back to the starting point.
This often seems to happen to save energy for the next rep (repetition). This way, more weight can be moved or more reps done. Thereby ‘one appears stronger’. Moreover, many are unaware of the added value of eccentric contraction.
It’s not about how much weight you can move, but about the relative effort it requires from the muscles. You are better off letting the weight drop in about three seconds during regular exercises. This way, you also benefit from the eccentric part of the exercise.
This low speed also prevents the elasticity of the attachments from being used to make the concentric part easier.
Eccentric Training Not for Powerlifters?
A footnote. So far, I have talked about an increase in muscle mass. When it comes to an increase in concentric strength, it is slightly different.
Strength can also be divided into concentric, isometric, and eccentric strength. Eccentric training does increase your eccentric strength (which also seems logical), but not your concentric strength [5].
For powerlifters, it’s all about “lifting” a weight. They benefit more from emphasizing the concentric part during training.
You might suspect that more muscle mass through eccentric training in the long term also leads to more strength during the concentric part. However, that’s not always convenient for powerlifters. They often compete in weight classes and thus do not want to be directly heavier to be stronger.
References
- Enoka, R. M. Neural adaptations with chronic physical activity. J. Biomechanics 30:447-455, 1997.
- Hortobágyi, T., L. Dempsey, L. Fraser, et al. Changes in muscle strength, muscle fibre size and myofibrillar gene expression after immobilization and retraining in humans. J. Physiol. 524:293-304, 2000.
- Hortobágyi, T., J. P. Hill, J. A. Houmard, D. D. Fraser, N. J. Lambert, R. G. Israel. Adaptive responses to muscle lengthening and shortening in humans. J. Appl. Physiol. 80:765-772, 1996.
- Vikne H. et al. Muscular performance after concentric and eccentric exercise in trained men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Oct;38(10):1770-81.
- Higbie, E. J., K. J Cureton, G. L. Warren III, B. M Prior. Effects of concentric and eccentric training on muscle strength, cross-sectional area, and neural activation. J. Appl. Physiol. 81:2173-2181, 1996.
- Farthing, J. P., P. D. Chilibeck. The effects of eccentric and concentric training at different velocities on muscle hypertrophy. Eur. J. Appl. Physiol.89:578-586, 2003.
- Paddon-Jones D et al. Adaptation to chronic eccentric exercise in humans: the influence of contraction velocity. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2001 Sep;85(5):466-71.
