If your training has hit a dead end, in addition to switching exercises or varying training intensity and volume, you can force further growth with advanced training methods. Eccentric training is a good example of this. In this technique you emphasize the eccentric (also called negative) phase of a movement. After all, that is the phase in which you are strongest.

EACH EXERCISE HAS TWO PHASES

Each exercise, or movement, consists of a positive (concentric) phase and a negative (eccentric) phase. During the positive phase there is concentric contraction (the muscle shortens) in the target muscle, during the negative phase there is eccentric contraction (the muscle lengthens).

A more practical explanation: with pulling exercises such as seated rows, the concentric phase is the first part of the exercise, with pressure exercises such as the bench press, the first part of the exercise consists of the eccentric part.

Quiz question: lowering the barbell while bench pressing, is that the concentric or the eccentric phase? Right, the eccentric phase. Pressing is the concentric phase. Just like getting up when squatting.

Now your muscle is stronger during the eccentric phase than during the concentric phase: 1.75 times stronger on average. This is where eccentric training, or ‘negatives’, derives its raison d’être.

The fact that you are stronger in the eccentric phase does not mean that this phase is significantly more important for muscle growth. A 2017 meta-analysis (aka study of studies) by hypertrophy expert Brad Schoenfeld showed that both phases are more or less equally important for hypertrophy. So never train exclusively eccentrically or concentrically. You would miss out on a lot of muscle growth. However, eccentric training is a way to occasionally intensify your training, with some exercises, with the aim of increasing strength and (extra) muscle growth.

FOCUS ON THE ECCENTRIC PHASE

Eccentric training simply means training harder by focusing on the eccentric phase of an exercise. The phase in which you are strongest. You kind of eliminate the ‘weak’ concentric phase. The principle is also known as eccentric overload .

The purpose of eccentric training is twofold. First, it is an effective way to overload your muscle and thus stimulate muscle growth, as has been shown by multiple studies. Secondly, it is a way to become stronger and later also be stronger in the concentric part. In fact, it’s a way of training your muscles with a weight that is actually too heavy for you.

There are different forms of eccentric training and you certainly do not necessarily need a training partner:

• negatives with training partner
• negatives without a training partner (the PREP technique)
• the 2/1 technique
• the two moves technique
• (super) slow eccentrics

We discuss them next.

NEGATIVES WITH TRAINING PARTNER

Doing negatives means that a training partner helps you to a greater or lesser extent with the concentric phase and you concentrate on the eccentric phase. For example, you can bench press with weights of, for example, 110% or 120% of your maximum. By your maximum we mean the maximum weight with which you can successfully perform the exercise independently.

Negatives are different from forced reps, where a training partner helps you do more reps with a weight with which you have done a maximum number of repetitions on your own. With negatives you basically use a (starting) weight that is higher than your one-rep max (1RM), the weight with which you can do a maximum of one repetition. So a weight with which you cannot do one complete repetition. During the eccentric phase, your muscles will endure forces that they were not yet used to. In this way they are more or less forced to become bigger and stronger.

Suppose your 1RM for the bench press is 100 kg. Then you load the bar with grab 105 or 110 kg and bring this weight down in a controlled manner. Your training partner will help you push the weight back out. He can help you as much as possible or as much as necessary to get the weight (just) up.

PREP TECHNIQUE

Yes, you can also do negatives on your own. By using the spotters (cross bars) in a power cage, for example. There is a fancy term for this method: Power Rack Eccentric Potentiation (PREP). A big disadvantage of it is that you can only do one negative at a time and then have to take the weight off the bar to be able to put it back. The PREP technique is therefore mainly applied with a view to increasing strength and not so much for (direct) muscle growth. After all, there is too much time between reps to keep the muscles under prolonged tension, as you can see with this PREP bench press:

The rather time-consuming method used in the barbell squat:

2/1 TECHNIQUE

The 2/1 technique is also known as 2:1 accentuated eccentrics, or even better: Bilateral Assisted Negative Accentuated (BANA). ‘Bilateral assisted’ means that you perform the concentric phase bilaterally (as you always do), while you perform the eccentric unilaterally, so with only one arm or leg. As a result, that arm or leg has to endure up to twice as much weight as normal. So you can, if you want, double the mechanical tension (absolute weight) in one fell swoop – in part of the exercise anyway. Or even more, if you also weight the concentric one. However, we advise you not to go too fast. Build up the weight slowly. In contrast to the PREP technique, BANA is very suitable for hypertrophy training. Below is an example with the machine chest press.

Another example, with leg extensions:

Of course you can also use this technique with other exercises, such as triceps extensions, biceps curls, rows with chest pad, leg curls, leg presses (depending on the type of machine), calf raises and lat pulldowns.

TWO MOVES TECHNIQUE

This way of eccentric training involves doing two exercises in one repetition. The dumbbell chest press and the dumbbell fly for example. You start the exercise like a regular dumbbell press, but you perform the eccentric phase like a fly. In the concentric phase, you then press the dumbbells back up as in the press. You can use significantly more weight than if you fly the weight upwards, as in a regular dumbbell fly. And so you can also use more weight in the eccentric phase of the fly.

Another example of the two moves technique is a combination of a deadlift and a Romanian deadlift. You lift the weight as in a regular deadlift, lower it as in a Romanian deadlift. This allows you to perform the eccentric phase of the Romanian deadlift up to 50 percent heavier than if you were doing a full Romanian deadlift.

Even more options:

• triceps: close-grip bench press (+), skull crushers (-)
• biceps: power clean from hang (+), reverse curls (-)
• biceps, brachioradialis and brachialis: curls (+), reverse curls (-) (=  Zottman curls)
• shoulders: dumbbell shoulder press (+), lateral raises (-)
• back shoulders: dumbbell bent over row (+), dumbbell rear delt raises (-)

(SUPER) SLOW ECCENTRICS

Another way to accentuate the eccentric phase is to slow it down. We therefore speak of eccentric volume instead of eccentric overload, because you are not actually overloading the muscle with a weight that is submaximal (after all, you are stronger in the eccentric phase). It is true that the muscle stays under tension for longer and thus increases the so-called time under tension. That is the main argument for many coaches to advise slow reps. But in the absence of overload, the question is whether this method really makes sense for muscle growth. A meta-analysis by Brad Schoenfeld again, from 2015, in any case, seriously questions slow eccentrics and suggests that they can even be counterproductive. The latter in particular because you usually have to sacrifice intensity (kg’s and reps) when training slowly.

At the same time, the analysis shows that there is a fairly wide margin for muscle growth in terms of training pace: 2 to 6 seconds and 1 to 3 seconds for the eccentric phase. This means that you can indeed use training pace as a variable, provided you do not go slower than 3 seconds and leave the intensity as intact as possible. In addition, if you do not leave breaks at the middle and end points of the exercise, you create ‘continuous tension‘ and therefore possibly muscle growth.

Below you can see, for example, a ‘continuous tension set’ performed with the dumbbell chest press.

HOW HEAVY SHOULD YOU GO?

Negative/eccentric training is only suitable for individuals who have been training for a while, at least one year. For beginners, the technique is not relevant at all, since they can get enough returns from regular training. But also for safety and recovery reasons, eccentric training is only recommended for experienced strength athletes.

There is no golden rule for the degree of overload (it also depends on your training level), but you certainly do not need to use a maximum eccentric weight for an optimal return. We recommend that you never train more than about 120% of your weight. If you are the first to start with this form of training, it is best not to train heavier than 105%.

In principle, you can apply eccentric training to any exercise. Just don’t do Olympic lifts (front squats, clean pulls, push presses, etc.) because of the dynamics of these exercises.