Slow Negatives for Power?

Q: I recently purchased your P/RR/S e-book and DVD and was curious as to why you recommend four-second negative reps during Power week. Isn’t the idea of that week to use the most weight possible?

A: Thank you for purchasing my program. Yes, the idea is to use as much weight as you possibly can—but with perfect form, a four-second eccentric contraction and a goal of reaching momentary muscular failure in the range of four to six reps. Could you handle even greater poundage if you were to reduce the negative stroke of the movement to three, two or even one second? Of course, but you must remember that P/RR/S was designed primarily for manifesting muscle hypertrophy and not for building pure strength.

Very little growth stimulation takes place when a set puts a muscle under tension for less than 20 seconds. Thus, if you perform five reps to failure, with each rep lasting only three seconds, for example, you will complete the entire set in 15 seconds. That type of training more strongly activates the central nervous system while leaving the great majority of muscle fibers untouched and underworked. The result will certainly be a gain in strength, but little in the way of hypertrophy will take place.

In addition, extended eccentric contractions have been scientifically proven to ignite muscle growth by causing increased fiber “trauma,” which initiates enhanced satellite cell activation. So, while the goal of Power week is to use maximum poundage, you must follow my “rules of engagement” if you want to get the muscle-building results you desire. That said, I can tell you with great certainty that after a few cycles of P/RR/S, your one-rep max in most movements will increase significantly. This is something that has been reported to me by just about every person who has taken the time to e-mail me about his or her results.

 

Editor’s note: Eric Broser’s new DVD, “Power/Rep Range/Shock Max-Mass Training System,” is available at Home-Gym.com. His e-books, Power/Rep Range/Shock Workout and The FD/FS Mass-Shock Workout, which include complete printable workout templates
and Q&A sections, are available at X-Workouts.com.