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T Nation
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T Nation
You're 20-30% stronger on the eccentric portion of a lift, making it a prime opportunity to pack on size and strength.
The key is to minimize the eccentric volume by not lowering the weight slowly and instead including a small amount of eccentric overload, which is
lowering a weight that's close to the maximum you can lower under control.
Negatives work best if used for just 3 reps per workout; always the first rep of the set, and never on consecutive sets. Use for no longer than a
month.
The negative/eccentric/lowering portion of a lift offers a serious opportunity to stimulate muscle size and strength gains. However, I typically
recommend against emphasizing the eccentric portion of lifts. That's not because eccentric loading isn't effective properly applied eccentric loading
is one of the most important keys to maximizing size and strength but because lifters doing a lot of volume already get considerable eccentric stress.
But what they aren't getting is the right type of eccentric loading. Let me explain.
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causing more muscle damage. For that reason, the key isn't the volume of eccentric work, but the intensity of that work.
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T Nation
The greatest benefit of accentuating the eccentric is the increase in fast-twitch motor unit recruitment. The key here is the amount of tension the muscle
can produce, which is directly related to the weight on the bar. Most people are about 20-30% stronger during the eccentric portion of a lift, so the
weight required to cause an overload during the eccentric requires a lot more than your regular training weight.
For example, a set performed with 90% of your maximum (which is very heavy) only represents about 60-70% of your eccentric maximum. This is
still good eccentric stimulation, whereas reps at 60% (during the eccentric) won't do much for gaining mass or strength. And no, going slower will not
improve the stimulatory affect of the eccentric. It might stimulate some growth through an occlusion effect, but it won't recruit and stimulate more fasttwitch fibers.
The key is adding more weight to the eccentric portion of the lift while maintaining your regular lowering speed. In other words, you want to lower
more weight than you lift. For example if you have 80% of your maximum on the bar, the load during the eccentric portion will be roughly 50-60%. If
we add 20-30% on the bar only during the lowering part, we'll thus have a relative load of 80% for both phases.
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How Often?
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I recommend using this approach four weeks out of 12 at the most. The best timing would be the last four weeks of a 12 weeks training cycle. After
eight weeks on a training cycle, gains are harder to come by, so a method like this can allow you to finish strong and establish a few PRs.
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