Before going in to the details of concentric and
eccentric muscle movements, I would like you to discover a very important fact about muscular tension.
Not exact matches
As you might already know, both types of
muscle action are equally important for the
muscle building process, and
muscles actually produce the biggest amount of force during the
eccentric part of the
movement.
Do fewer than that and you can't maximize the
eccentric (or
muscle - lengthening) phase of the
movement, which will lessen your velocity.
An
eccentric muscle contraction is generated when the fibers of the given
muscle lengthen as they lower a load, which is often referred to as the down phase of the
movement.
Some personal trainers will tell you that the best way to lift is explosively, thereby maximizing fiber recruitment and triggering greater growth, while others claim that lifting in a slow and controlled manner, especially on the
eccentric portion of the
movement, will create greater
muscle tension and lead to greater hypertrophy.
We are able to provide perfect resistance for each exercise thereby optimally loading the skeletal
muscle for the entire range - of - motion, including the negative or
eccentric phase of the
movement.
Even though the concentric part of the
movement is essential to triggering hypertrophy, the
eccentric part puts a more significant strain on your
muscle.
With efficient
eccentric isometrics, focusing on concentric positioning is almost unnecessary as the
muscles have been properly activated on the lengthening phase and will stay so throughout the rest of the
movement / shortening phase.
But again, lifting heavy weights (85 % of your 1 rep max) using compound
movements that recruit lots of
muscles, done at the proper cadence (1 second concentric
movement and 3 - 4 second
eccentric movement) is one of the best ways to burn calories.
Superslow training places tension on
muscle fibers throughout the entire
movement, both concentric and
eccentric phases.
In the video I talk about why tearing the
muscle tissue on the
eccentric movement is so important.
Through 30s intervals of both compound and isolation
movements, as well as rotation through focusing on
eccentric, concentric, and isometric contractions, he designs training sessions that improve blood flow, strengthen connective tissue, and, of course, bulid
muscle endurance in weak areas.
Negative Reps is a technique where we only stress the
muscle on this
eccentric phase of the
movement.
Increasing
muscle fascicle length through
eccentric training could therefore be a valuable method for improving athletic performance in
movements that have peak contractions at long
muscle lengths, such as the terminal swing phase of sprinting, or the ground contact phase of sharp change of direction (COD) maneuvers.
Increasing
muscle fascicle length through
eccentric training could therefore be a valuable method for improving athletic performance in high - velocity
movements, such as sprinting.
Some studies have indicated that electroencephalography (EEG)- derived
movement - related cortical potentials (MRCPs) are greater during
eccentric muscle actions than in concentric contractions (Fang et al. 2001; 2004).
In contrast, with the same absolute load (load lifted in both
movements equal to 90 % of overhead squat), there was no difference in gastrocnemius
muscle activity during the concentric phase yet greater
muscle activity during the
eccentric phase when performing the overhead squat.
There is a TON of research that shows that the
eccentric position of the
movement tears
muscle tissue more effectively than the concentric.
This is because swimming has no
eccentric movement (the negative portion of a lift under gravity), which is what is the main cause of
muscle soreness.
Muscle soreness is a bi-product of overloading the
eccentric or lengthening phase of a strength training
movement, especially as it relates to the final 30 % of the
movement.
The greatest amount of
muscle tearing occurs during the
eccentric portion of the
movement, so this should be slow and controlled.
Adding load in the lifting phase of a barbell complex also requires dealing with slowing down
movements in the
eccentric phase to avoid putting undue strain on
muscle attachments.
Eccentric - specific gains produced by peripheral mechanisms might be reasonably expected to transfer well to COD ability, because the stiffness of the passive elements within the
muscle is not expected to be affected by the
movement pattern, and may actually be increased by the velocity of the contraction (Rehorn et al. 2014), making the properties of the passive elements even more relevant for high - velocity contractions, than for low - velocity contractions.
I'm suspecting the fast negatives, downward (
eccentric)
movement was a culprit of the rapid breakdown of my
muscle tissue.
The
eccentric heel drop places the emphasis of the
movement on the downward phase so that the calf
muscles must contract as they lengthen to control dorsiflexion.
I would love to see more studies done about the potential
muscle damage that can be caused by
eccentric movements (especially improperly performed).
It therefore showed that the aspects of an exercise that determine transfer to sport are not limited to the
movement pattern, but include other factors such as the
muscle group being trained (the hamstrings are key to sprinting ability), and the mode of the contraction (
eccentric muscle actions are very important during sprinting).
When you train using only concentric and
eccentric muscle contractions without out pausing at the end range of a
movement (exercise) when the desired
muscle is fully contracted, your joints don't get strong and stable at the end range of motion.
All of this means that when you challenge your body to do more WORK — for instance, by going very slowly on the
eccentric portion of the
movement — you get more of your important type 2 (fast twitch)
muscle fibers involved... which means you become more metabolically active to burn fat... AND build greater strength.
Variations of these
movements that change angle work the
muscles differently and in some cases can more beneficial and joint - friendly — dumbbell floor press, Neutral grip
eccentric chin - up, Chest supported neutral grip dumbbell row, steep incline dumbbell press, B - stance deadlift, Bulgarian split squats.
The researchers recorded a little more electrical activity in the
muscles during both the concentric and
eccentric movements.
For example, the Barbwire Pushup puts the lats and traps (back
muscles) through a great workout, whether on the
eccentric or concentric
movements.