Added On November 5, 2011
Put The Emphasis On The Negative If You Want To Grow
by Rusi
I bet you've seen it many times: some skinny kid goes to the bench press and "bounce" every single rep in order to lift 10 pounds more. The stretch reflex which is nothing more than elastic energy should be kept to a minimum when training for mass.
When you "bounce" a bench press for example you essentially make the movement much easier at the bottom because what lifts the bar is not pure muscle power but momentum. If your goal is to lift the most weight that's fine but if your goal is stimulate the most growth you are doing it wrong. In bodybuilding your goal is to make an exercise as hard as it can on the targeted muscle group because more stress equals more growth once proper recovery has taken place.
Usually the bouncing will be coupled with a very fast negative because if the negative/eccentric portion of the exercise is slow this will significantly reduce the stretch reflex since your muscles no longer act as loaded rubber bands and have to do the job without the added momentum. This means more stress and more growth. On top of that most of the muscle stress happens during the negative portion of the lifts. That's why you get sore when you put more emphasis on the negative - there are just more micro-tears. This is all good.
That's why it's so important to perform the eccentric portion of every exercise under control and if this means less weight on the bar so be it. Who cares? In the end of the day the weight is just a tool with one purpose - stimulate growth. And heavier weight does not always equal more stress.
Try this experiment: perform a simple chin-up by following the below guidelines:
Start from a dead hang - in other words relax completely and let your shoulders go up; Just hang like a monkey.
Lifts your ass up under control but then instead of simply lowering yourself and taking advantage of the stretch reflex at the bottom start lowering yourself inch by inch for 10-20 seconds. I would bet a lot of money if I had some that your pull-up number will be cut in half but the next day you will be sore as hell despite the fact that you performed less reps.
Conclusion: It's not only how you lift it. It's also how you put it down. Remember quality over quantity any day.
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