Negative training is a popular and highly effective way to stimulate muscle growth in bodybuilding. Learn the secrets of bodybuilding training. Athletes are constantly on the lookout for new techniques that can improve their training performance. At the same time, today there are already many ways to achieve this goal. Today we want to introduce you to practical advice on negative training in bodybuilding. Especially for novice athletes, this information can be very helpful.
What is negative training?
Each exercise that is performed using free weight equipment (except isometric) has 2 phases - positive and negative. In the first case, the muscles contract under the influence of the load, and in the second, they stretch.
As an example, consider one of the most popular movements - the bench press. When lifting a sports equipment, the muscles contract and a positive phase is performed. During the downward movement of the bar, the muscle fibers are stretched, which corresponds to the negative phase.
During normal work, athletes use both of the above phases. But it has long been noticed that lowering a weight is much easier than lifting it. There are several explanations for this:
- In order to lower the projectile, the muscles need to spend less effort.
- Due to the peculiarities of the structure of the human body, the muscles are able to produce more force precisely during the negative phase of the movement.
Negative training allows athletes to use more weight. This in turn stimulates the growth of muscle tissue better. It is very important that when using negative training, all movement is under the complete control of the athlete. To do this, it is necessary to lower the projectile for 5 or more seconds.
However, there are also negative aspects to using negative replays. You must remember. That this is a very traumatic type of training. For this reason, negative repetitions are often discouraged. The optimal solution would be to use negative training at the final stage of training the muscle group. After completing all the sets, you can add a couple of negative ones.
Now a few words should be said about how to choose the right weight of a sports equipment for performing negative sets. Start with a weight close to your maximum. For example, you can squeeze out a maximum of 100 kilograms. In this case, start with the same weight, or 95 kilograms. If you were able to perform several repetitions with this weight quite simply, then increase the weight slightly, by about five percent.
It is very important that your companion who is helping you perform negative reps clearly understands their tasks.
Negative training in basic exercises
It must be said that you can use the negative repetition method in almost any exercise. We will now give practical advice on negative bodybuilding training for specific exercises that are most popular with athletes. By analogy, you can then use the technique in other exercises.
Row of the vertical block in the direction of the chest
Set the weight you need and with the help of a friend, pull the block handle towards the chest. After that, you need to independently, controlling the movement, return to the starting position.
Leg curl in the simulator
Your partner helps you lower the weight, and then you extend your legs on your own.
As you can see, everything is quite simple. At the same time, you can perform some exercises in a negative phase and without the help of a partner. Here are a couple of examples.
Leg press
Set a weight that is light for both legs, but heavy for one. Push the weight out with two feet and lower the platform with one. Remember that all movement in the negative phase must be completely controlled by you. Also, you should not remove the other leg so that you can hedge yourself if necessary.
Calf Raises Using the Trainer
The exercise is performed similarly to the previous one. You need to rise with two legs, and lower with only one.
Upper block rods
Install 2 D-handles for each hand. Pull the block down with two hands and lower with one.
How to combine negative and forced reps?
You can also improve the effectiveness of negative replays by combining them with other methods. Forced retries can be one of them. For this you need a companion. With its help, you lift the weight, after which it begins to put pressure on it, and you lower the projectile in a controlled manner.
Learn more about negative reps and negative bench press in this video:
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