Bigger gains

“In training, we are used to measuring the weight of the load that we can move through the concentric phase of the movement,” notes Swan. Think about how often we see people deadlifting big numbers but dropping it at the top of the movement, or rushing through the lowering phase as they want to get the weight back off the floor as quickly as possible. “However, it has been found that focusing on the eccentric portion of your lifts can significantly improve both muscular strength and size.”

One of the simple reasons for this is because it “increases the time that your muscles are under tension for. Imagine performing a pull-up and holding your weight at the top of the bar before slowly lowering down – you are working your muscles for a prolonged period of time [compared to moving up and down quickly],” explains Swan.

Better mind-to-muscle connection

Swan also notes that slowing a movement down to increase eccentric load can “build a better mind-to-muscle connection”. In a study published in the Journal Of Applied Physiology, researchers found that five weeks of eccentric training of the trapezius muscle (the upper shoulder) increased “muscle excitability” – that is how easy it is for a muscle to be ‘activated’. That suggests that eccentric training can actually improve neural pathways to the muscles.

Eccentric exercise can help you to build more muscle in half the time – here's how