If you've ever attended a Strive Strength session you'll be familiar with the term 'Eccentric', and may have fond memories of the after-effects of this approach to strength work. There is a valid and important reason that I love to include this method in the work we do to strengthen and condition our bodies, and it's not just about inflicting more DOMS on my clients.
What is eccentric training?
The word 'eccentric' means to focus on the lengthening of the muscles, rather than the contraction. It means that for strength exercises like a squat or press up, the effort is focused on the lowering-down phase. It's tough, arguably tougher than pressing 'up'.
Most exercises can become eccentric and it's a really great way to mix up your routine by focusing on loading the weight for the lowering phases. During your squat, for example, aim to spend 5 to 10 seconds lowering down into the bottom position. A step up becomes a 'step down' where the effort is placed into the lowering phase when you aim to take 5 to 10 seconds to return back down.
The benefits of eccentric training
As runners, triathletes and strength enthusiasts, there are huge benefits to building muscle strength in the lengthening phase. Here are some of the really big ones:
Builds stability
Slowing everything down on the lowering phase builds stability through our joints. Let's imagine an overhead press where you're lifting a dumbbell overhead. When you aim to lower the dumbbell as slowly as you can to return to the start position, you're working your wrist, elbow and shoulder joints, and all of the tiny muscles that are involved with keeping that joint stable. Joint stability is something all endurance athletes should spend time developing as our repetitive movements (running, cycling, swimming) place a lot of stress on our joints.
Builds flexibility
Because eccentric exercises encourage us to move unto deeper positions i.e. getting lower into a squat, and add greater load to the lengthening phases, they also improve our flexibility. An eccentric squat for example, demands that we spend more time in those deep positions, helping develop our flexibility through our hamstrings, glutes and achilles muscles.
Bigger bang for your buck
Not only do you have the weight of the external force (kettlebell, dumbbell or barbell), we also have to resist gravity, which wants to drag the weight back down to earth as quickly as possible. We can also typically work with heavier loads during an eccentric movement without expending more energy.
Leads to greater muscle growth (hypertrophy)
Research suggests that there is slightly more muscle damage when you train eccentrically, which, along with rest and recovery, is exactly how a muscle gets stronger. However, don't mistake 'muscle damage' with complete failure where you're actually just inflicting pain and long-term damage on your body.
Neuromuscular enhancements
Eccentric training is used heavily in rehabilitation work, especially building back from knee and ankle traumas. Evidence suggests that the control and stability required to perform an eccentric exercise improves our brain - body connection, and can even repair damage that may have been caused to these pathways by the injury itself.
How often should you train eccentrically?
This depends on your training goals. If you want to make strength your focus - over the winter, perhaps - ideally you'll be completing 2 to 3 strength sessions each week. If you're building back from injury, then 4 to 5 sessions per week. This will include 1 to 2 sessions where you focus simply on those key exercises your physio or body professional has prescribed you.
Within your strength program, aim to use eccentric training as a way to challenge your body and the way that it moves with resistance. That may mean that one session a week is where you'll focus on lifting eccentrically or you may spend a few weeks making all of your leg work (squats, lunges, deadlifts and even the leg press) eccentric. You may even be more specific than that and choose one exercise you want to make big gains in e.g. the overhead press or press up, and perform is eccentrically for the next 3 - 4 weeks.
To be 'strong', we need to challenge our muscles and movements to their maximum potential. That means not following the same routine where we're always moving in the same direction (forwards / back, up / down when you can also move side to side, diagonally and rotationally), only ever aiming to lift heavier (simply cranking more weight plates onto the barbell when you can also focus on going deeper / lower / reaching or stretching further) and only applying the same forces to our muscles (lifting something 'up' when we could also be lowering down, jumping, landing, throwing).
Things to remember
Eccentric training is most appropriate for those people who already have a grounding of strength training to begin with. So make sure you're comfortable squatting (with or without weight) for multiple reps and sets before you attempt an eccentric version.
Because you're placing your muscles under a great load, rep counts are typically lower. This also means you can really perform each repetition to your best effort . An example is where you might focus on doing 3 x 6 really great eccentric press ups.
Finally, beware that eccentric training typically results in greater muscle soreness (up t0 70 hours later!) so I don't recommend completing an eccentric session the day before a long run!
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