The Benefits of Eccentric Contractions in Training

Eccentric contractions provide benefits that are missing in many people’s repertoire.

Do you really think about how you lift a weight?

People want to move weights around as fast as possible without yet having learned to control a weight. What about how you decelerate a weight? It seems most of what we see these days is a focus on lifting or accelerating weights.

When it comes to training parameters, there are a multitude of possibilities: volume, intensity, rep schemes, you name it. We also have “as many rounds as possible” and “for time” prescriptions holding us to moving weight around fast. We forget that

if you can first master decelerating weight, you will become better at then accelerating it

Tempo prescription is a parameter that is often neglected but can in fact be a powerful tool for hypertrophy, strength, power, as well as (p)rehab. The deceleration portion of your movement, known as the eccentric contraction, can have an effect on fiber-type recruitment, act as a protection mechanism, affect muscle structure and improve motor control.

So, just like The Power of Isometric Exercise in Training and Rehab , eccentrics have their time, place and reason to be during your yearly periodization to optimally and progressively overload your neuromuscular system.

Here are the many benefits of eccentric contractions in training and rehab:

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