What are the benefits of slow eccentrics for strength/hypertrophy especially on a physiological level? Besides possible technique improvement benefits due to the slower tempo.
In terms of Powerlifting I’m mostly interested in how it affects slow eccentrics for squat and bench
Thanks!!!
No real benefit for hypertrophy directly, though tempo work may be effective for load management and thus, making sure total training stress is appropriate.
For strength, the slower eccentric may generate some eccentric-specific strength gains by providing more stimulus during this contraction. Some of these eccentric strength improvements, e.g. increased tissue stiffness, costamere signaling, etc. may improve concentric strength. We’d prefer to do this via overloaded eccentrics vs slow eccentrics based on the present evidence, so this is more of a guess.
Somewhat related to this topic, what do think of slow eccentrics for the Olympic lifts, ie lowering the bar slowly to the ground after a pull?
I think that’s not a great use of training resources.