Can Eccentric Training Increase Muscle & Strength?

jacky

The meta-analysis (2009)  looked to see if eccentric training is superior to concentric training for strength & muscle mass.
Why eccentrics are different from concentrics?

Eccentrics involve active lengthening and concentrics involve active shortening of the muscle fibers
Characteristics of eccentric contractions

• They can produce more force than concentrics. So you can use more weight than concentrics.
• They selectively recruit Fast fibers. Fast fibers are bigger and have greater potential for growth than slow fibers
• They recruit less fibers than concentrics and hence accumulate greater damage and greater protein synthesis ( and greater protein breakdown too , mind you).
• The use very little energy and hence has very little metabolic fatigue
• In contrast to concentric, higher velocity generates greater force in eccentrics.
  

What were the study highlights?

• Meta-analysis: The study combines all the studies comparing eccentric exercise to concentric exercise into one big study.
• High Quality:  As like any quality meta-analysis, the study had an inclusion and exclusion criteria, quality assessment of studies by independent reviewers, subgroup analysis based on contraction mode and speed of contraction and so on.
• Included studies: After reviewing 66 studies, only 20 studies were included based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria.
  

What were the results of the meta-analysis?

• Strength: Eccentric training is more effective at increasing eccentric strength than concentric training. The greater strength increase was only shown with higher eccentric intensity. But even training with higher eccentric intensity did not increase concentric strength.
• Muscle: Eccentric training appears to be more effective at increasing muscle mass than concentric training. This increase was shown with both higher and comparable eccentric intensities. Some of the conflicting results are speculated to be because of the different methods of measurements used.
• Velocity-Specific: Eccentric strength is highly specific to the velocity of training
  

Practical Applications

• Adding a few sets of eccentric sets for the weaker body parts can be helpful. You can also add few weeks of eccentrics at the end of your training cycle too.
• Eccentric for every exercise or bodypart will be extremely fatiguing and will negatively affect your recovery.
• If you are into sport performance, training eccentric contraction at the velocity of the sport will be more helpful in improving eccentric strength
  

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