Training negatives only

[Guybrush]

Hey fellow beefcakes,

I've been checking up on tips and a recurring theme is negatives only workouts with weights training.

The general idea is you can lower a heavier weight than you can lift, so if you only focus on lowering, you can up the weights and see increased gains.

The lifting of the weight is the positive part of the movement while the lowering is the negative.

Anyone here doing this?

[grindy]

Yes, the eccentric portion of a lift is most likely more hypertrophic and you are stronger that way but I don't think there's a net benefit here. Training like this would mean that you basically swing the weights up and then slowly lower them, right? But that would mean you mostly miss out on the concentric and that would only make sense if the eccentric was twice as effective. Plus this would work only with some exercises anyway. Plus swinging around weight is a good way to get hurt. So just train normally but make sure to control the eccentric portion and not just drop the weight and this will most likely produce the best results.

[jimmy jazz]

Yes mate I have done them before. Not for a while though.

Dorian Yates stresses that even when you are training with 'normal' reps to focus on the negative and get the most out of it. So even if you aren't doing negatives only you can still benefit from them.

@grindy you don't need to swing anything but obviously if you're training on your own without a partner it is more difficult.

Scooby had a good video about this but he's only gone and deleted it, stone the crows!

Dorian:

[grindy]

Okay, if you use it as an intensity technique at the end of a set, helped by a partner, it can have it's place in your program. Might be more useful in some kind of low volume, high intensity program, which in itself has its up and downsides.

[jimmy jazz]

When I did it for bis, I got the equivalent of shin splints in my forearms. So be careful guise. Was years ago.

[Guybrush]

Yes, the eccentric portion of a lift is most likely more hypertrophic and you are stronger that way but I don't think there's a net benefit here. Training like this would mean that you basically swing the weights up and then slowly lower them, right? But that would mean you mostly miss out on the concentric and that would only make sense if the eccentric was twice as effective. Plus this would work only with some exercises anyway. Plus swinging around weight is a good way to get hurt. So just train normally but make sure to control the eccentric portion and not just drop the weight and this will most likely produce the best results.

I think this sounds like good advice, but I believe the point of the negatives only workouts is you use weights that are too heavy for the positive part of the movement and that's where the gainz stem from.

I don't know about swinging. For a bicup curl, I think you just lift with both arms, then do negative lowering with one arm at a time.

[jimmy jazz]

I think this sounds like good advice, but I believe the point of the negatives only workouts is you use weights that are too heavy for the positive part of the movement and that's where the gainz stem from.

I don't know about swinging. For a bicup curl, I think you just lift with both arms, then do negative lowering with one arm at a time.

All of this is correct, you could do it with a lot of things but it is harder if you don't have a partner especially with something like bench press. Although you could use it for weighted pushups, pullups and dips.

Scooby:

[grindy]

I think this sounds like good advice, but I believe the point of the negatives only workouts is you use weights that are too heavy for the positive part of the movement and that's where the gainz stem from.

I don't know about swinging. For a bicup curl, I think you just lift with both arms, then do negative lowering with one arm at a time.

Okay, might make more sense to do it like that. Still I don't see the benefit of doing whole sets this way. Weight is only one variable but volume is another one and both matter in conjunction. You increase the weight by some percentage but you basically cut your volume in half. Sounds like a training protocol developed by ego lifters.

Okay, some more thoughts after watching the Scooby vid: I can understand using it itas a way for busting through plateaus but let's be honest, most of us are skinny and weak because we don't train consistently enough and hard enough while eating and recovering properly, not because some magic technique is missing. You can milk linear progression for quite a long time before you have to think about stuff like that. If you're already very experienced and jacked af, go nuts but it's a long way until then.

[jimmy jazz]

Grindy I think you sound a bit... negative 😏

You're not wrong but it's just a technique you can try if your gainz have stopped. I think it is worth a go in that situation. Or even if you just want to switch things up a bit.

[grindy]

I'm not against intensity techniques (I use some myself, mostly to save time, I don't think I get better results that way) or some other ways to shake up one's training but I think we should focus on the basics and be consistent with them for a considerable amount of time before playing around with other, usually much less important, variables. I speak from experience (which could of course also mean I'm biased). I used to look for special exercises and tricks and techniques, jumping around and changing my program and basically got nowhere instead of just focusing on good old progressive overload.