Eccentric training
This type of training can help build muscle, improve athletic performance, and reduce the risk of injury.
[1] Eccentric training is particularly good for casual and high-performance athletes or the elderly and patients looking to rehabilitate certain muscles and tendons.
[3] The first revelation of the functional significance of these properties occurred in a clever demonstration devised by Bud Abbott, Brenda Bigland, and Murdoch Ritchie.
[3] This movement is similar to the action of springs, where the muscle is continually shortened and stretched resulting in enhanced effectiveness and force.
The role of eccentric training is to use these principles of energy conversion to strengthen muscle and tendon groups.
When myofilaments of the muscle fiber are stretched in such eccentric contractions there can be reduced numbers of detachments of cross bridge myosin and actin links.
Examples of activities involving eccentric muscle contraction include walking down a hill or resisting the force of gravity while lowering a heavy object.
[1] Eccentric actions place a stretch on the sarcomeres to the point where the myofilaments may experience strain, otherwise known as exercise-induced delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
[5] Several key findings have been researched regarding the benefits of eccentric training: Eccentric exercise or resistance training is currently being used as a form of rehabilitation for sports injuries, but also as an alternative form of exercise for the elderly and those affected by neurological disorders, COPD, cardiopulmonary disorders, and cancer.
[6] Muscle loss is a big problem faced by people afflicted with the above disorders and many cannot participate in rigorous exercise protocols.
Early, high-force eccentric training can be used to increase muscle strength and volume without damage to the ACL graft, surrounding soft tissue, and the articular cartilage.
[14] Due to the low oxygen consumption of eccentric exercise studies have been conducted on patients with severe COPD.
A study was performed to test how eccentric and concentric contractions affect cardiac autonomic modulation after exercise.
The Esmonde Technique takes eccentric training and makes it available to the masses through Classical Stretch and Essentrics.
[21] Tearing an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee causes serious damage that can last several years and often requires surgery.
During the post-operative rehabilitation of patients, eccentric training can be used as a cornerstone of developing muscle size and strength.
According to tests conducted by J. Parry Gerber in 2007, structural changes in the muscles greatly exceeded those achieved with standard concentric rehabilitation.
The success of the involvement of gradual progressive exposure to negative work ultimately led to the production of high muscle force.
By the age of 80 "one-half of the skeletal muscle has been lost" (Lastayo, Woolf, Lewek, Snyder-Mackler, Reich & Lindstedt, 2003).
Eccentric training is of huge benefit to those that wish to avert injuries by improving the muscle's abilities to absorb more energy before deteriorating.
According to one article, "Increased stiffness in tendons, greater force at failure, and an improved ability to absorb energy at the musculotendonous junction result following eccentric exercise training".
Ample evidence supports the notion that the tendon, like the muscle, can adapt favorably to physical stress and eccentric loads.
[23] It has been deduced that high muscle-tendon forces delivered in a controlled environment are needed for optimal tendon adaptation.
A study was done by Roald Bahr and colleagues looked at which method of tendon rehabilitation exercise – the "eccentric squat" exercise or the universal gym "leg extension/leg curl" — produced more recovery results in terms of recovery in the treatment of chronic patellar tendonitis.
On the twelve-week exercise program, participants were tested for thigh circumference and quadriceps, and hamstring moment of force.
