Negative workouts?

teresamwhite

I have a new personal trainer, meeting on Monday nights. She said she was going to start me on a few negative movements the next time we meet to help boost me up over my plateau (I'm stuck on my bench and OHP).

I should have asked her what that meant, but didn't. A casual web search described it as slow movements in a loaded position.

Soooo...in a bicep curl, for example, start with the weights down against my thighs, then curl them up, and very slowly lower them back down? It's obvious from her suggestion she thinks this is beneficial to my progress, but what does this actually do?

erickirb

It means for bench she will help you lift it to the top and you lower it slowly... this can be done with weight that is heavier than you are accustomed too. a lot of people drop the weight too quick on the way down, doing this will still help strengthen and build the muscles, not sure if more effective then going lighter and doing the full lift, but I think it would be worth a try. Could get you use to a heavier weight so your regular weight may seem "light".

for the curls you should have a spot to help get it to the top and concentrate on lowering it slowly... the only times I have done negatives were pretty much with my 1 rep max, but with help getting to the top on each rep you can do multiple negatives. the other option is you do light but push up fast and lower extra slow...

yopeeps025

You could do partial reps weak points of the workout which on average is at the bottom of bench or mid point.

tracypurple

My trainer always put an emphasis on contracting the muscle and going down slow as well as going up, she sad with alot of exercises people use gravity or momentum and dont get the full benefit...

yopeeps025

My trainer always put an emphasis on contracting the muscle and going down slow as well as going up, she sad with alot of exercises people use gravity or momentum and dont get the full benefit...

That is true. Pause reps can help stop the momentum so your fibers have to work more to do the rep.

kmorgan221

I've heard this suggested as a way to develop pull ups. Start with your chin up over the bar (use a box or ladder), then slowly lower yourself down. Over time this should strengthen the muscles to the point where you can complete a pull up.

dbmata

It works because in general we can move more weight in the eccentric portion of the lift than we can in the concentric.

That's why it makes sense to use negatives for pull ups, and spotted negatives for bench. Hell, spotted squat negatives would be awesome, but hard to have happen without two spotters.