The Super Negative Way To Add Muscle Mass

This guy looks a little too happy with his lifts - he needs to work harder!

Quick tip here for you that works with just about lifting program you are using.  (Of course, you only use my lifting programs, right?????  [smile]).  The only routines I would NOT use this technique with is when you are doing sets to failure.  I’ll explain why.

Science has shown that the eccentric portion of the lift (the lowering, or “negative”) actually stimulates more muscle growth than the concentric (the lifting or pushing portion).  The theories as to why this is true are varied and inconclusive; yet the fact remains that negatives are great for progression.

Does that mean you should do sets of 10 negatives?  Not really.  Because you want to be functional as well, and most real-world action is concentric, not eccentric.  Once in a while doing a workout of only negatives is fun, but they will cease to be fun if that’s all you do.

Plus, doing negatives all the time requires that you have a really strong lifting partner who can get that 275 pounds off your chest for you!

And forget about power training with only negatives!

So here’s what you do:

a) do your regular set/reps/weight just like normal

b) on your last rep of each set, lower the weight as slowly as you possibly can

That’s it.  (It’s funny how simple effective techniques can be.)

The keys are

• go really slow, I mean like you are in a contest to win $100 if you take the longest time possible
• don’t stop – the motion has to be slow but continuous (without pauses)
• only do this on your last rep (so you will already be really tired; this is why you can’t use this technique if you are training to failure)
• don’t “save some energy” for the super-negative; your regular reps all need to be done as intensely as you would do if you weren’t going to do a super-negative
• for some exercises, you MUST get a spotter!  of course you don’t need a spotter for the super-negative on things like pull-ups, dips, and any exercise where your body is not between the weight load and the floor; but for bench, military, squats, etc. you really shouldn’t do this without a spotter
• don’t use this year-round for every workout; for example, I incorporate it in one of my Hypertrofreak workouts but that’s it

Have you tried this?  What do you think?

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Related posts:

1. Time-Volume Training – A Mass-Building Program For Bodyweight Exercises
2. Taylor Lautner’s Workout For Muscle Gain – Yet Another Story
3. Science News For Building Lean Muscle – Jan 25 2009

Tags: negatives