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Mr Power

What are your goals?

There are various reasons why you may want to incorporate lengthening the eccentric/concentric phases of the exercise. First, it is always suggested that you vary your workouts. I personally change my routine every three months or so. This type of program will surely shock your muscles.

It is a common misconception that your muscles grow only during the concentric phase and during the eccentric portion the muscles relax. In actuality, the eccentric phase is just as important for muscle growth.

During the eccentric phase, nerves continue to tell your muscles to work, although less units are firing thand uring a cocnentric contraction. The effect is that more stress is places on each muscle fiber during this phase.

Muscles grow as a result of minute muscle damage and an inflammatory response. When weight training and focusing on the eccentric contraction, you lower the same ammoutn of weight that you'd push during the concentric phase, but with fewer muscle fibers involved. Thus increase the ammount of "damage" to the fibers.

In theory this damaging of muscle fibers will result in increased muscle growth. Research suggests that the eccentric component may be just as important as the concentric phase for promoting muscle growth. One study showed that, when compared to normal (concentric and eccentric phase) weight training, concentric-only training required twice as many repetitions to produce similar results.

HOWEVER, there is also another important reason for lengthining your movements - working maximum power and exposive strength. This is especially important for those involved in sports, where exposive strength is important, but also for a weigthlifter.

If you are interested in working explosive strength, I suggest this reading by the West Side Barbell team - http://westside-barbell.com/westside-articles/PDF.F iles/01PDF/Explosive%20Power%20And%20Strength.pdf

Answered by Mr Power 1 month ago Report Abuse

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