What does eccentric mean in weight training?

Eccentric (Negative) Contractions: During these contractions, the muscles lengthen while producing force—usually by returning from a shortened (concentric) position to a resting position. Using the same example above, the lowering the weight back down during a biceps curl is an eccentric contraction for the biceps.Feb 26, 2010 read more

Concentric vs. Eccentric contractions: learn how to build more strength and get better results from your weight training without spending more time in the gym. Easy to follow! read more

Eccentric training is repetitively doing eccentric muscle contractions. For example, in a biceps curl the action of lowering the dumbbell back down from the lift is the eccentric phase of that exercise — as long as the dumbbell is lowered slowly rather than letting it drop (i.e., the biceps are in a state of contraction to control the rate of descent of the dumbbell). read more

Importantly, eccentric training seems to increase EMG amplitudes to a greater extent than concentric training, in both isometric and eccentric strength tests (Komi & Buskirk, 1972; Hortobágyi et al. 1997; Aagaard et al. 2000), but this is by no means a uniform finding (Higbie et al. 1996). read more