Are You Missing The Most Important Part of Your Reps? - insidefitnessmag.com

The Eccentric Portion of a Rep is Most Important

Written by Tim Rigby

Most savvy fitness buffs are aware of the benefits from slowly lowering weights, as opposed to letting the force of gravity cause them to return to the bottom at a natural speed. A new study from Edith Cowan University (Australia) suggested that performing the lowering (eccentric) portion of the weights alone may be just as sufficient for muscle building and strength gain as a full rep including the lifting (concentric) portion.

Now we know what you’re thinking… “C’mon, man.” Right? Well, the case can be made for this theory, especially when you consider that lowering a weight slowly lengthens the muscle. However, there is clearly energy required to perform the concentric portion of the lift – plus it must have an importance, considering it’s been the cornerstone of bodybuilding since the dawn of time. We therefore recommend you experiment with slow negative repetitions for exercises which lend themselves to performing them easily, such as a barbell curl, the bench press or the barbell front raise. The study was published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.

EccentricExerciseFitnessJournalScientific studyStrengthStudyTrainingWorkout

Leave a comment

All comments are moderated before being published