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Want
to gain strength rapidly? Negative training is
by far one of the best ways to dramatically increase
your strength levels as quickly as possible. And
the standard ways to do negative training can
certainly be effective...but who wants standard
results!
What Is Negative Training?
The
term "negative" refers to the lowering
portion of a repetition. For example, when you
do a bench press, pushing up the bar is the "positive"
phase (also known as the concentric phase), lowering
the bar down to your chest is the "negative"
phase (also known as the eccentric phase).
When
we talk about negative training, we're referring
to training that focuses specifically on working
only in that lowering phase of each rep. Because
your muscles can handle heavier weight when you're
lowering a weight in a controlled manner than
when you're actually lifting it up, we use a heavier
amount of weight for negative training.
The
heavier weight helps build muscular strength and
develops the connective tissue (tendons and ligaments),
conditioning your body to then train with heavier
weights than it would normally be used to training
with. Negative training holds the potential for
building TREMENDOUS strength.
Typically,
negative training is done with a training partner.
The partner helps lift the weight to the top position,
then the partner releases the weight and you lower
it to the bottom solely on your own power.
The
real key to effective negative training is in
HOW you lower the weight. Don't just lower the
weight as you would in a typical rep, letting
it come down on its own. You must ACTIVELY FIGHT
GRAVITY by pushing (or pulling, depending on the
exercise) as hard as you can against the weight.
It's heavier than you can actively lift, so all
you will be able to do is slow it down.
If
you don't fight the weight, your results will
not be optimal. If you've done negative training
before and didn't feel extremely sore the next
day, you probably weren't fighting the weight
during the negative phase. Try it and you'll feel
the difference!
It's
not an easy training technique and it shouldn't
be done very often (because it causes a lot of
muscle damage) but it is EXTREMELY effective for
building strength quickly. It should also be done
only AFTER you've had at least 6 months of training
experience.
So What Are These Secrets Of
Negative Training?
Now
we come to the juicy stuff...the stuff that you
won't learn anywhere else. This information will
help you make full use of negative training and
truly maximize the results you get from it.
Because
if you're doing negative training the standard
way, you are simply NOT getting everything out
of it that you could be.
1. Dropping Points
If
you've been lifting weights for any length of
time, you're intimately familiar with sticking
points. The sticking point is the point in a range
of motion of a given exercise where, as you fatigue,
the weight just stops.
For
example, on the bench press, the sticking point
is just below the halfway point of the press.
At this exact point, the structure of your body
causes a change in leverage, making it the weakest
point in the range of motion (every exercise has
a unique strength curve with a unique sticking
point).
So
naturally, when you're doing negative training,
this weakest point in the range of motion still
exists. Picture it this way...you have a weight
that is greater than what you can normally press
- in the top, strong range of motion, you can
lower it under control very easily. But when you
get to what I call the "dropping point"
(which is the equivalent to the sticking point),
your leverage changes and your strength suddenly
drops (as does the weight, hench the name "dropping
point").
Here's
the problem...with standard negative training,
you can only use enough weight that you can control
through the WHOLE range of motion (if you use
more, the weight will just crash down when you
hit that dropping point). But if you can control
250 lbs at the dropping point, you can control
FAR more than that up until the bar gets to that
point, possibly 300 lbs or more.
This
means you're NOT fully overloading your muscles
and NOT getting the most results possible with
your negative training. You're only overloading
the weakest point in the entire range of motion
of the exercise and the rest is just wasted. The
reason you're doing negative training is to build
strength - why use only what you can control in
the very weakest point in the range of motion?
Which
brings us to the solution...
2. Partial Negative Training
Standard
partial training is basically doing an exercise
in a shortened range of motion. Using the bench
press example, it could be doing only the top
few inches of the exercise, locking out with the
weight. The primary benefit of partial training
is the ability to use MUCH more weight than would
with a full range of motion.
The
concept of partial training can very easily be
carried over to negative training and applied
with great effect. To do partial negative training
for the bench press, we're going to set the safety
rails in the power rack just ABOVE the dropping
point of the exercise. That way, you can use FAR
more weight - you won't have to base the weight
that you're using on what you can control through
the weakest range of motion. You'll base it on
what you can do in the top, strongest range of
motion.
The
result: much greater strength gains and MUCH greater
effects on the connective tissue, helping pave
the way for even better gains in the future (stronger
connective tissue gives the muscles greater potential
for strength gains).
This
partial technique can applied to almost any exercise
that has a dropping point/sticking point and that
can be done with free weight in a power rack,
e.g. squats, presses, curls, barbell rows, etc.,
or even using machines that can be adjusted in
terms of range of motion. With the rack, all you
need to do is determine where your dropping point
is and set the rails just above it.
But
partial negatives are only ONE way to get around
the dropping point problem. What is the other?
That's our next juicy secret...
3. 2 Up/1 Down Negatives
But
what do you do if you don't have a partner or
a power rack? How can you even do negative training
at all, much less avoid the pitfalls of the dropping
point?
The
answer is simple: do the positive phase of the
exercise with BOTH limbs and do the negative phase
with ONE!
This
solution is elegant in its simplicity - a weight
that is enough to challenge one side of the body
will be fairly easy to lift into position with
both.
Dumbells
and machines are most appropriate for this type
of training. Machines are especially useful because
a machine that is designed for two arms can generally
be very easily done with just one with no changes
at all in body position or technique.
Take,
for example, a shoulder press machine. To do a
2 up/1 down negative, place a little more weight
on the machine than you could do for a regular
rep with 1 arm. Press it up to the top position
with both arms then take your left hand off the
handle. Lower it to the bottom with just your
right arm.
If
you're using a dumbell (for example, on a preacher
curl bench), hold onto only one dumbell and use
your other hand to help move the dumbell back
up to the top position after each negative rep.
This
2 up/1 down approach has three main benefits:
First,
the uneven tension on the body forces the stabilizing
muscles of the core to work overtime. You'll develop
great core stability even while using machines,
but especially when you're using a dumbell.
Second,
if one side of your body is stronger than the
other, the stronger side won't be able to compensate
for the weaker side, ensuring more even development.
Third,
and this relates most to the dropping point, your
non-working limb can be used to spot yourself
on the negative phase of the rep. If you're doing
a dumbell preacher curl negative, you can use
your other hand to apply some additional pull
(gripping on your forearm or hand) and help take
up some of the resistance when you get close to
the dropping point. This means you'll be able
to use maximum resistance in the strongest ranges
of motion and get some help in the weakest range
of motion so that the weight doesn't drop and
you lose the tension.
For
more information on how to do negative training
by yourself, check out the following article:
Secret
Training Tip #342 - How to Do Negative Training
Without A Training Partner
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Conclusion:
Negative
training is one of the best techniques you can
do for increasing strength quickly and powering
up your connective tissue. When doing negative
training, because of the way it damages muscle
tissue, it's a good idea to increase your intake
of Vitamin C to help reduce muscle soreness and
rebuild damaged muscles (take 500 mg before and
500 mg after your workout).
Negatives
are not for the beginning trainer, but can be
extremely valuable for the intermediate to advanced.
They should be performed a maximum of only once
in a week for any given muscle group and for no
more than 3 to 4 sets of 4 to 6 reps (if you can
do more than 6 reps, you're not using enough weight).
Give
negative training a try using the partial technique
or the 2 up/1 down technique. It'll take your
strength to a whole new level!
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