If you're been struggling to get the results you're looking for from your current bodybuilding program, it might be time to consider using negatives.
Negatives, when done appropriately, can be a good way to help boost your strength and get you out of a plateau.
You must watch when doing negatives however because these are very intense in nature and can definitely take more time to recover from.
If you fail to take into account these two factors, you may just find that you're feeling more burned out than anything.
In order to see optimal muscle gains, you're going to have to work them into your program, making adjustments to allow for more recovery time as you progress through.
What Are Negative Reps Negative reps are a technique where instead of really focusing on the concentric portion of the lift, you're instead going to target in on the eccentric phase.
The concentric portion can be thought of as the portion of your lift where you push 'up' (say the upward portion of a bench press, the press up in a military press, or in the case of a squat, where you push up from being in the bottom squat position.
The concentric portion, on the other hand, is what's commonly called the 'bottom phase' of the exercise, where you are returning to the starting position after doing the lift.
This would be the downward movement in a bicep curl (moving the arm from the upper body back down to around the legs) for example.
So, rather than trying to build up the weight so you can press more, you're essentially trying to get your muscles to be able to lower more weight.
You Must Have A Spotter One thing to keep in mind is that when you are doing negatives, you should always be using a spotter.
They are to be there so that when you move into the lowering portion of the lift, they are there to 'press' on the weight ever so slightly, creating that extra force that really gets your muscles working.
For example, when doing a bench press, use a weight that can comfortably do on your own, but then get them to press down on the bar as you lower it to your chest.
This helps prevent the chance that you get 'stuck' at any portion of the lift, as you know you can lift the weight fine on your own, it's only their additional pressure that's causing the increase in resistance.
Take Longer Rest Breaks Next, be sure when doing negatives that you take a little longer rest breaks in between each set as the muscle fibers involved with negatives will require more time in between each set to recover.
Also note, you absolutely must be stretching after such a workout because you are also much more likely to get sore after doing this type of workout technique, than you would with regular training.
So, if you're looking for something new to try with your bodybuilding workout and start seeing better results as far as weight gain in concerned, keep this technique in mind.
This isn't something to do on an ongoing basis, but incorporating it in to two or three of your workouts each week for a month can get your weight gain moving again.