What is ‘eccentric exercise’, one of the fastest ways to gain strength

I did something today that I don’t normally do. When I go for a run, I usually run up a hill, but today I walked up. However, I ran downstairs. And that’s because, as illogical as it sounds, running downhill is probably better for me than running uphill.

What I did is known as eccentric exercise, and despite the name, there’s nothing strange about it.

What’s fascinating is that while it seems easier going down than up, eccentric exercise plays an important role in many aspects of health, including muscle repair and growth, flexibility, and bone density.

It may surprise you (it certainly surprised me), but the easy part, the one where you’re going down, is actually one of the fastest ways to get stronger.

And it’s not just downhill running, it’s any exercise where you stretch your muscles under resistance, such as when you lower the dumbbells after you lift them. When you lift a weight, you are contracting your arm muscles (this is concentric exercise); when lowering them, the muscles lengthen.

Stretching your muscles is, in many ways, the most effective part of the exercise.

Done right, eccentric exercises can offer some really significant benefits — from keeping you in shape to helping your body burn more calories when you’re done than a seemingly harder workout.

Do you want to try?

If you’re curious, you can try the “sit and stand up challenge”.

All you have to do is sit in a chair, but very slowly: taking 3-5 seconds. Then stand on both legs.

If you’re feeling particularly energetic and have good balance, you can try sitting down and standing on one leg when you stand up.

Repeat at least 10 times a day.

Eccentric exercises are the inverse of a lot of the moves you’re already doing – they were kind of hidden all along in your training program.

You just need to be more attentive to them, incorporate them into your routine, and make sure the active muscle works.

But do they really offer significant benefits to your overall health?

The studies

In one of my favorite studies, participants were asked to go up or down the stairs of a 10-story building twice a week and use the elevator in the other direction.

As might be expected, both groups saw improvements in various health outcomes, but surprisingly the group that took the elevator and descended the stairs was more fit. They showed significantly greater gains in resting heart rate, which is a way of measuring overall health and fitness.

The result was particularly surprising, as the heart doesn’t have to work as hard going down stairs as it does going up.

Those who walked down the stairs also showed a greater improvement in insulin sensitivity and blood fat levels.

Eccentric exercise can also be the secret to stronger bones and muscles.

In the stair study, the descending group saw greater improvement in muscle function and bone density than the ascending group.

And, incredibly, those who walked down the stairs increased their muscle strength by 34%, more than double the group who climbed it.

This result is similar to that of a 2019 randomized controlled trial, which compared older adults who did traditional exercise with a group that practiced eccentric exercises. Research showed that the “eccentric” group had a 38% improvement in leg strength, while the traditional exercise group had an 8% gain.

It also reduces the risk of injury and can improve balance, which is very important for overall well-being.

Other studies have shown that focusing on the eccentric phase of lifting weights can increase the rate at which calories are burned once the exercise is over.

For some reason, the part of the exercise that seems easier actually has a greater beneficial impact on the whole…but why is this the case?

It’s time to consult an expert on the science behind eccentric exercises, Tony Kaye, a professor of biomechanics at the University of Northampton in the UK.

Why is eccentric exercise so effective?

First, because it’s easier to do. It’s much harder to go uphill than downhill, and yet we’re moving the same amount of mass, which is our body.

The second reason is in the way the muscle works.

It’s simple math that I explain with fictional numbers: let’s say we’re lifting 100 pounds in a squat.

When lifting, we use 100 muscle fibers, so each one is being stressed by 1 kilo.

When lowering, we use different muscle fibers that are much, much bigger and more powerful, so we only use 25 muscle fibers.

Each of them has to support 4 times the load, and this generates much greater microscopic damage to the cells of these fibers.

It’s absolutely fascinating that part of the benefit of exercise is the damage it does: it causes micro tears, and it’s the recovery that makes you stronger.

Correct. While it makes us healthier, fitter, etc., exercise itself generates microscopic damage that stimulates hormonal responses, and with nutrition, rest, and sleep over the days that follow, you rebuild those muscles at a higher level. taller and stronger.

Eccentric exercise has been consistently shown to generate greater microscopic damage than concentric exercise.

And can it also help you burn more calories?

Yes and no.

No, while you are doing the exercise.

But, yes, later.

That’s because it causes more microscopic damage, so it forces the body to increase its metabolic rate over the next few days while it repairs itself – hence the metabolic rate rises for an extended period of time.

What are the benefits as we age?

As we get older, we get weaker, the muscles in our arms get smaller, and our bones get weaker too. And eccentric exercise has repeatedly shown more positive effects on all three than any other type of contraction.

We analyzed the effect of eccentric training on young, healthy male soccer players and observed dramatic increases in strength.

Then, we performed the same exercise in elderly people, over 65 years old, some with clinical conditions.

They showed very large increases in strength, from 30% to 50%, and a 10% increase in muscle mass in the quadriceps in just six weeks.

It’s a substantial increase, much, much greater than we would expect from normal exercise.

Another study I did showed a 4-fold increase in ankle range of motion than traditional stretching.

So it increases flexibility, muscle mass, bone density, strength.

It is a highly effective exercise.

*In the BBC Radio 4 series Just One Thing, doctor Michael Mosley discusses in different episodes what you could do for your health if you had only one choice.