On your accumulation methods videos you talk about rest pause and in another video you talk about slower essentrics.
If wanting to gain maximum muscle mass would it be ok to combine both methods? Ex:…doing slower eccentrics during a rest pause set to maximize mtor?
Thanks
Sure
I found this article on tnation. Can you please explain why there are different opinions on this matter?
My conclusion? The eccentric phase does not need to be emphasized for the purpose of enhancing size and strength. Don’t get me wrong, the eccentric phase is just as important — maybe even more important — as the concentric phase, but the stimulus it receives with traditional, fast contractions takes care of all your training needs.
If you do emphasize the eccentric phase, it can lead to excessive DOMS, and that’s something that doesn’t pair well with frequent training sessions. By emphasizing the eccentric phase with slow tempos or supramaximal loads, you’re only extending your recovery period as your immune system deals with excessive muscle soreness, elevated creatine kinase activity, and limb swelling. I’m not a fan of any strategy that augments the recovery period.
My bottom line on eccentric contractions:
Train the eccentric phase with the same speed and load as the concentric phase.
Perform the eccentric phase as fast as possible while controlling the movement.
There’s no correlation between excessive, eccentric-induced soreness and hypertrophy.
The argument you are making is in line with the work of Louie Simmons and I agree with it when it comes to performance training. A faster eccentric will lead to a faster concentric in a well trained athlete, no doubt.
But we are talking about muscle growth here. A slower eccentric can trigger more protein synthesis not necessarily via more muscle damage but via a greater mTor activation.
As for DOMs, honestly not everybody gets it. I personally do not get DOMs at all, even if I do slow eccentrics. Of course if you have DOMs your performance will decrease. But again, an advanced trainee will not get a lot of DOMs unless he i coming back from a lay-off
Not in everybody. I can emphasize the eccentric and will not be sore the next day and have no decrease in performance at all. The most sore I have been in the past 2 years was by doing fast eccentric with a super fast turnaround. There is a lot of variability in individual training response.
If YOU don’t like slow eccentrics, FINE! The neuro type 1B doesn’t respond well to slow eccentric and need to use the stretch reflex for maximal performance. But the types 1A and 2B do very well on slower eccentrics.
A good friend of mine who is a coach I exchange a lot with is a type 1B and if he does slow eccentrics he actually loses muscle mass and strength. So he now only uses fairly fast eccentrics and he is getting stronger every workout. But I know plenty of guys who are the exact opposite.
BTW was you initial question a set-up to show how smart you are? Because you asked me a question than quickly made a post talking against slow eccentrics.
Anyway, everything works. But it doesn’t work the same way for everybody. Even Louie Simmons who writes about the superiority of fast eccentrics writes that slow eccentrics are best for building muscle. But that’s not what he is after.
This is from “Special Strength Development for All Sports” by Louie Simmons. While he writes how he prefers fast eccentric to increase performance (and I agree and even wrote about it in the past in the article called “The Perfect Rep”) he still acknowledge that slow eccentrics work to trigger more muscle growth. In fact in the abstract I posted we understand that he avoids slow eccentrics in part because it will build muscle. And he wants to gain a much strength as possible with the least amount of muscle gained since powerlifting is a weight class sport (and that most other sports require relative strength more than absolute strength at a higher body weight).
Lol. No I was just researching slow eccentrics and found that. I appreciate all of your information on here and know u are the best at what you do! Wasn’t trying second guess you. Thanks again. Going to work out now doing slow eccentrics with rest pause!
Thanks again for your answers
