Eccentric Exercise

Eccentric exercises are those where there is contraction and lengthening of a muscle.

This may be an unusual idea to you. You are most familiar with concentric exercises where muscles contract and shorten. Eccentric exercise--where the muscle contracts while it lengthens--is just the opposite.

Imagine you are lifting a heavy object, perhaps a box filled with books. As you lift it your muscles contract and shorten--this is concentric exercise.

But now you are holding the box of books. What do you do with it? Do you just drop it? Well, you could, but usually you want to set it down somewhere gently.

As you set it down your muscles are still contracting. You are still holding the box after all. But the muscles are lengthening as well. Your muscles lengthen as you lower the box to the ground. That is an example of eccentric exercise--the lengthening of muscles while they are still contracting.

So why is this important?

It is important because it is often overlooked when you exercise. Sure, you raise up the weight and you feel your muscles getting tight. It feels good and you know that it is building a stronger body.

But then you just let the weight drop back into place. When you do you are missing out. When you lower the weight slowly under control--the eccentric phase of lifting--your muscles are still contracting. They are still under tension.

And tests have actually shown that your muscles are stronger in eccentric movements than they are in concentric movements. How can that be?

Well, it is this way. Imagine there is a weight that you cannot lift. It is just a little too heavy for you to lift. Did you know that you can probably still hold that weight, that if someone was to help you get it up into position you could hold it? Yes, you could.

And if you had it up there you could probably lower it back down slowly, under control. This is the eccentric movement--the lowering of the weight under control.

Athletes use eccentric movements to make their body stronger. They get some help to get a weight up and then they lower it slowly down. In this way they are able to handle a weight that is heavier than what they can raise on their own. Their body senses the extra stimulus and it causes the muscles to grow.

So when you are exercising don't give up on a movement too soon. Don't just let the weight drop back down. Concentrate on the eccentric movement as well as the concentric movement and you can increase your gains from weight training.

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