Control the Negative! A Simple Exercise Trick with Big Benefits

In the world of strength training and rehabilitation, there’s one part of a movement that often gets overlooked: the negative. This means the "lowering" phase of a movement; think about lowering a weight down slowly, or a slow descent into a squat.

This is what’s known as eccentric exercise—and if you're not paying attention to it, you're missing out on one of the most powerful tools for building muscle, improving flexibility, and boosting neuromuscular control.

In this post, we’ll unpack what eccentric exercise actually is, why it matters, and how you can use it to improve strength, movement quality, and even neurological rehabilitation outcomes. We'll also show you how it's used in our PhysiKits programs to support real-world progress.

What is Eccentric Exercise?

Every time you move a weight, your muscles work in one of three ways:

• Concentric contraction: The muscle shortens while producing force (e.g., lifting a dumbbell during a bicep curl).

• Isometric contraction: The muscle holds tension without changing length (e.g., holding a plank).

• Eccentric contraction: The muscle lengthens while producing force (e.g., lowering the dumbbell back down during a bicep curl).

Eccentric contractions are happening all the time in everyday life: slowly sitting into a chair, walking downhill, lowering groceries onto a table. They’re how we control movement and deceleration.

But importantly, they're a potent stimuli for physical change.

Why Should We Care About Eccentric Exercise?

Let’s break down the top 3 reasons why eccentric movements deserve your attention—plus a bonus reason that makes it a smart training tool for everyone, especially those with movement limitations.

1. Eccentric Exercise Builds More Muscle

There’s growing evidence that eccentric training is at least as effective—and possibly more effective—than traditional concentric training when it comes to increasing muscle size.

📖 Research Insight:
In a meta-analysis of 15 studies comparing concentric and eccentric training head-to-head, researchers found that while both methods increase muscle hypertrophy, eccentric training had a slight edge, with an average growth rate of 10.0% vs. 6.8% (Schoenfeld et al., 2017).

This may be due to:

• Higher force production during eccentric loading

• Greater activation of fast-twitch muscle fibres

• Increased mechanical stress (a key driver of muscle growth)

Bottom Line: The takeaway? The lowering phase of a movement is an opportunity to grow stronger and build more lean mass.

2. It Improves Range of Motion and Flexibility

Eccentric exercises can actually improve flexibility and joint range of motion, on top of building muscle!

📖 Research Insight:
A systematic review and meta-analysis by Kay et al. (2023) examined 17 studies involving 376 participants. They found that eccentric resistance training led to large increases in lower-limb passive joint range of motion, often outperforming traditional stretching techniques.

Key findings:

• Gains were seen in as little as 4 weeks

• The improvements were especially notable in dorsiflexion and knee extension

• Eccentric loading caused structural adaptations in muscle-tendon units, such as longer fascicle lengths and increased compliance

Bottom Line: This makes eccentric training a great option for people looking to maintain or improve mobility—particularly in neurological rehab, where muscle stiffness and contractures (shortened muscles) are common.

3. It Enhances Neuromuscular Control

For people with neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or stroke, coordination and control are often bigger challenges than strength alone.

This is where eccentric training shines.

📖 Research Insight:
A clinical review by Lepley et al. (2017) highlighted that eccentric training targets not just the muscles, but also the brain and nervous system.

It can:

• Increase corticospinal excitability (i.e., how well the brain sends signals to the muscles)

• Improve motor control strategies

• Activate underused areas of the brain, including the cerebellum

• Reorganise neural circuits to reduce the risk of re-injury

Bottom Line: In short, eccentric exercise can help “retrain the brain” to move more effectively. For people with neurological impairments, this can mean better balance, more stability, and improved quality of movement.

BONUS: You’re Stronger in the Negative

Here’s one more compelling reason to focus on eccentric training: you’re naturally stronger in the eccentric phase than in the concentric phase.

Most people can lower more weight than they can lift, usually by an estimated 20-30% more. This is great news if you’re trying to progress but can’t yet perform full reps of an exercise.

Take the push-up as an example:

• Someone might be able to do 10 kneeling push-ups but zero full push-ups from the toes.

• Instead of stopping there, or building up to 20 kneeling push-ups, they could work on eccentric push-ups — starting in the full position and slowly lowering down to the ground over 3–5 seconds.

• This overloads the muscles under control, helping build the strength needed to complete a full push-up in time.

This strategy, often called “eccentric overloading,” is a great way to achieve progressive overload—a principle that simply means doing a bit more over time to drive improvement, and a key concept we prioritise within some PhysiKit modules.

Whether you’re a beginner or advanced, eccentric training can be tailored to help you reach your next level.

How We Use Eccentric Training at PhysiKits

At PhysiKits, we believe that understanding how to train is just as important as what to train.

That’s why we leverage eccentric exercise principles within some PhysiKit courses depending on the module.

Some examples include:

• Slow sit-to-stand progressions in strength-building Toolkits

• Negative-only calf raises to calf flexibility and minimise foot-drop in MS

• Eccentric stretches in our flexibility Toolkits for Cerebral palsy

We pair each strategy with video demonstrations, clear instructions, and explanations of how the movement supports neuroplasticity, flexibility, or functional strength. It's all part of making your rehab experience not just more effective—but also more engaging and self-driven.

🔗 If you're curious how this applies to your condition, explore our range of Physikit courses today!

_References

_{Schoenfeld, B. J., Ogborn, D. I., Vigotsky, A. D., Franchi, M. V., & Krieger, J. W. (2017). Hypertrophic effects of concentric vs. eccentric muscle actions: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 31(9), 2599–2608.  https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000001983} 

_{Kay, A. D., Baxter, B., Hill, M., & Blazevich, A. (2023). Effects of eccentric resistance training on lower-limb passive joint range of motion: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 55(4), 710–721. https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000003085} 

_{Lepley, L. K., Lepley, A. S., Onate, J. A., & Grooms, D. R. (2017). Eccentric exercise to enhance neuromuscular control. Sports Health, 9(4), 333–340. https://doi.org/10.1177/194173811771091}