Working a negative into a positive

Your muscles are as much as 1.75 times stronger during the eccentric phase than during the conventional concentric movement. Simply put, you can lower more weight in the bench press or deadlift than you can raise.

You should never let the weight fall faster than it took you to push or pull it. Control the movement so as to maximise the effect of the weight on the muscle. The longer the muscle stays under the influence of the weight the greater muscle and strength development.

For example, a simple way to build more muscle is to use a longer tempo for the eccentric motion (4 to 6 seconds) with an explosive or 1-second concentric motion. So move with a more stroking versus a poking motion when lowering the weight.

Here is the science • There are basically two types of muscle fibers that make up muscle tissue: type 1 & type 2.

• Type 1 or slow twitch fibers are characterized by low force/power/speed production and high endurance.

• Type 2 or fast twitch for high force/power/ speed production and low endurance.

• It has been proven that fast-twitch type 2 fibers increase 10 times more in the eccentric-only training than the concentriconly.

So start slowing down your tempo for faster gains.

Here are examples Negative leg extensions: • Hook your feet under foot pad of the machine, load it to a weight that can really challenge you. Push out fast with both l egs to full extension now count to five as you slowly lower the weight back to the start position. Try 2-3 sets of 5-6 reps each time.

• Negative chest press on machine Load the chest press machine to a weight that is challenging outside of your comfort zone. Count to 5 as you lower the bar to your chest • Stop when it’s a couple inches away from the chest • Then (if you need to, have someone check you) push away as hard and fast as possible then repeat for up to 6 repetitions.

• Do 3 sets.