Today is our third installment of the How to Lift series and, in my opinion, the most important one yet. Today we need to talk about one of the most common things that lifters of all skill levels get wrong and, by doing so, leave the vast majority of their potential gains on the table.

So here is the deal: I keep my eyes open in the gym. When I am in between sets I look at everyone and what they are doing. Sometimes I even stop to watch someone (this is usually when someone is obviously hitting things perfectly and I want to make mental notes of how they are doing it).

One thing I notice more than anything is that people DO NOT CHANGE. In the on season I am in the gym 7 days a week and most of those days I am in twice a day. When I am in the off season I go maybe once a week. When I got back to the gym after the off season I saw something that really struck me as odd. All the familiar faces. They were all doing the exact same routines in the exact same ways and they all looked the same. 5 months of not seeing these people and they were still there, every day, and hadn’t changed a bit.

Even worse are the ones with trainers. The same people at the same time with the same trainer (that they pay a very high premium for) walking around doing the same workouts and they look no different. I will tell you this, there is never a 3 month period where I do not change how I look. Whether that is going into on season and building up to my peak physique or going into off season and losing my gains during my rest period, my body never stays the same. It is always in constant flux.

Now if you want to go to the gym to be social or just enjoy whatever, that is fine. I need someone to pay enough dues to keep the lights on. I will say, however, I just don’t understand it. If I am going to put a bunch of money, time and effort into something I want to see some results and I think you guys on Team WB feel the same way.

Well, I am going to tell you that with a single minor change you are going to see results jump through the roof. If you haven’t been concentrating on eccentric lifting then this article is going to be a total game changer for you.

So let’s break it down: When we do a lift there are two parts of the lift. There is the concentric part of the lift and the eccentric part of the lift. In the concentric part of the lift the muscle fibers shorten and on the eccentric they lengthen.

Just so we are 100% clear. On a bench press, the concentric part of the lift is the one away from your body and the eccentric is the one down to your body. On a curl the concentric is when you curl the muscle up and the eccentric is when you lower it. On a squat the concentric part of the lift is when you go down (always taint to paint boys) and the eccentric is when you push back up. On a skullcrusher the concentric is when you push the weight up and the eccentric is when you lower it back to your skull. The concentric movement of the chest fly is when you close the weights over your chest and the eccentric is when you open them back up. The concentric motion in a leg extension is when you push the weight down with your legs and the eccentric is when the weight pushes your leg back to the starting position etc etc etc. Eccentric movements have the momentum of the weight against the muscle.

Look around you at people lifting. Look at your own lifts. You will notice something very often. People focus almost entirely on the concentric motion of the lift. Do a curl. RRRRRR! Curl that weight up. Then what? Then you let the weight’s momentum carry your arm back to the starting position. Do a bench press. RRRRR!!!! Push that weight off your chest up to the sky! But then what? Let the weight’s momentum carry it back down to your chest.

First off, if you are doing this you are doing exactly half a lift. Even with no other factors (and there are several other factors) you are only using the muscle 50% of the motion of the lift which means at the VERY LEAST you are only lifting with 50% efficacy. But it is actually worse than this 50/50 situation!

People are putting all their efforts into lifting a weight and then when it comes time to return to the starting position they just let it have a controlled fall. The reason this is bad is because muscle strength and growth are a product of hypertrophy. While part of hypertrophic gains comes from satellite cells being recruited and attaching themselves to the muscle, that is not the whole story. The muscle also gets bigger by increases in the size of the individual fibers that make up the muscle. This is something that happens when there is some injury in the form of micro tears to the muscle which then need to be repaired. In order for the fibers to get injured in a way that forces them to repair themselves thicker, denser, stronger and bigger they need tension.

If you are lifting a weight and letting gravity do the work of getting it back to the starting position before the next rep the muscle is simply not under enough tension to create the injuries in the muscle fibers that lead to the repairs and growth we are seeking.

Look at Arnold’s Bicep contraction and the focus and strain on his face as he LOWERS the weights. Picking them up isn’t even half the game.

So what do we do. After the concentric motion of the lift do NOT think that you have lifted the weight. You have done half the work. After this, engage the muscle to slowly bring the weight back to the starting position (the eccentric part of the lift) while leaving constant tension. Yes, doing this means you will be lifting lighter, check your ego and deal with it.

There are all sorts of tempos you can use and if you want to look at Time Under Tension tempos you can look back at this article from last February. However, if you aren’t ready to start doing really closely timed lifts and playing with different temps, here is a general rule of thumb: the negative portion of your lift, the eccentric part, should take three times longer than the concentric part of the lift. So make that curl, bench press, squat, fly or whatever then slowly, always leaving the tension of the weight on the muscle and removing gravity from the issue to the best of your ability, bring the weight back to the starting position….slow enough that it takes 3 times longer than the concentric movement.

If you want a quick test of how this works, take a walk over to the leg extension machine. This is a good place to start because there is little risk involved. Now, lower the weight. I did leg extensions today at 45 pounds. That is the pin in only the second (maybe third I don’t remember) hole. I have very dense, very strong and very thick quadriceps. If you think you need more than this weight I want you to send me a pic of your quads.

Now, get in a proper position. Get your posture right. Finally, the concentric motion, Push down not super fast but at a good clip. Now slowly, as slowly as your body will allow you, never for one moment letting gravity help, return the weight to the starting position. I did 5 sets of 20 like this. I suggest 3. 3 sets of 20 at 45 pounds.

I will bet you that you won’t be to the end of the second set until you know that everything in this article is 100% true. Then you apply the same method to each and every one of your lifts. Team WB is Team Hypertrophy….go get those fuckin’ gains. Don’t leave anything on the table. Only one week until the first day of spring and next week starts phase two in the Toxic Masculinity Program.

One last note, and it is something I’ve already said but bears repeating, do not say you weren’t told when you are not maximizing your musculature and strength: THIS FOCUS ON THE ECCENTRIC MOTION OF THE LIFT GOES FOR EVERY SINGLE LIFT FROM FREE WEIGHTS TO MACHINES TO CABLES TO BODY WEIGHT EXERCISES…..ALL OF THEM!

It is go time!

Grind On!