Concentric Only Excercise

BingDing

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Hi all

I am feeling like doing more weight lifting and want to try concentric only and see if I can tell any difference. Obviously the only way to do it with free weights is throw them on the ground after the concentric phase. That would go over like a fart in church, LOL.

Has anyone ever seen machines at a gym that does the eccentric phase?

TIA
 

Dizzryda

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I've been doing a 30 second up chin up a 30 sec up dip and 30 sec up lateral raise. No negative motion. Pretty decent results zero muscle soreness. I do 3 sets of each in about 10 minutes
 

Gl;itch.e

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I would find a place that you can do throws and sled exercises. Sleds are perfect because you can work pretty much every muscle of the body and are always using concentric contractions.

Olympic lifting is pretty much concentric only as well. At least the main lifts are. Clean and jerk, snatch etc.

But people shouldn't do solely concentric only exercise. Yes it may be better to focus on the concentric but some heavy work where eccentrics are involved is not going to deteriorate your health and may be helpful.
 
OP
BingDing

BingDing

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FWIW, I picked up a set of exercise bands last week and found a way to do curls with no eccentric stroke.

The exercise bands have a clever way to anchor the thing to the hinge side of a door. I put the anchor below the bottom hinge and held each end of the band with the handholds. Then I stepped back about 2 feet and performed a curl.
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Holding the curl, I stepped forward two feet and the bands were relaxed. Voila! No eccentric stroke.

I don't know if any of it makes much difference as far as muscle building, but I feel brilliant for figuring it out for myself.

Many people say squats are the most important single exercise, and I agree. If I figure out a technique with the bands I'll post it here.

Cheers,

BD
 

Philomath

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But people shouldn't do solely concentric only exercise. Yes it may be better to focus on the concentric but some heavy work where eccentrics are involved is not going to deteriorate your health and may be helpful.
Which types of eccentric exercise would be "beneficial/less damaging"
 

BastiFuntasty

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We have machines in the gym where you can select a mode in which the excentric phase is heavier than the concentric ohase, it is not working the other way round, how annoying^^

I would love a machine which would for example combine rowing and chest press, where you only do the concentric part^^
 

Gl;itch.e

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Which types of eccentric exercise would be "beneficial/less damaging"
Well beneficial doesn't necessarily mean less damaging. Eccentric exercise is definitely damaging (to varying degrees), but that is the point. It forces adaptation of the muscle worked to get bigger and/or stronger to better deal with the stress. The thing is you shouldn't shy away from it, nor should you actively seek it or exaggerate it. So long as you are healthy enough and getting enough protein and overall calories you should be able to recover fine from a balanced workout/training regimen.
 

postman

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Well beneficial doesn't necessarily mean less damaging. Eccentric exercise is definitely damaging (to varying degrees), but that is the point. It forces adaptation of the muscle worked to get bigger and/or stronger to better deal with the stress. The thing is you shouldn't shy away from it, nor should you actively seek it or exaggerate it. So long as you are healthy enough and getting enough protein and overall calories you should be able to recover fine from a balanced workout/training regimen.
Ray Peat strongly favors concentric exercise over eccentric exercise, but I don't remember his reasoning.
 
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Easiest solution is just to lower the weight quickly when using free weights or machines -- no special equipment required.

If you're doing bicep curls, slowly curl your bicep during the concentric portion, then quickly yet smoothly drop the weight back down during the eccentric portion. Repeat.
 

Gl;itch.e

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Ray Peat strongly favors concentric exercise over eccentric exercise, but I don't remember his reasoning.
I believe because the concentric action is less stressful on the muscle and activates pro-metabolic processes such as the glucose transporters, whereas the eccentric action (when emphasised or over done) causes muscular damage and actually decreases insulin sensitivity/glucoses ability to get into the muscle for a time.
 

OLLNX

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I believe because the concentric action is less stressful on the muscle and activates pro-metabolic processes such as the glucose transporters, whereas the eccentric action (when emphasised or over done) causes muscular damage and actually decreases insulin sensitivity/glucoses ability to get into the muscle for a time.

I'm not sure about insulin sensitivity, but it will spike inflammation and most likely will cause muscular/nerve edema to the greater degree. This is exactly what happens under estrogen dominance/hypo thyroid state. I can't see any positive side of this situation, except, probably, when people are looking for purely visual effect of a bigger muscle.
 

Gl;itch.e

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This is exactly what happens under estrogen dominance/hypo thyroid state. I can't see any positive side of this situation, except, probably, when people are looking for purely visual effect of a bigger muscle.
Just because there are some temporary effects resembling "estrogen dominance/hypothyroidism" doesn't mean that the net effect isn't a positive one. Since this effect isn't mediated by an extreme chronic condition it shouldn't be viewed as detrimental in the same way. Long term having more muscle is protective against metabolic disorders (if the training, diet, drugs used to achieve the muscle wasn't unnatural or overkill)
 
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I think some eccentric exercise is important for muscles to resist injury

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1440244006000065

When only control and intervention group players who participated in at least the first two sessions were analysed, 4.0% of intervention and 13.2% of control group players sustained a hamstring injury (RR 0.3, 95% CI: 0.1, 1.4; p = 0.098). The findings suggest that a simple program of eccentric exercise could reduce the incidence of hamstring injuries in Australian Football but widespread implementation of this program is not likely because of poor compliance.
 
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Ray says correctly I think, that eccentric can damage chromosomes etc. But there is also evidence, one of many studies I posted, that eccentric strength is essential to preventing injury.

Think of eccentric strength as muscle fiber's resistence to injury while being stretched. Since muscles are always in opposed groups, when one contracts, the other must stretch. That stretching muscle can resist injury better when it is stronger in the stretched state...a matter of conditioning.
 

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