Before starting this article, let’s go through what we spoke before so you don’t get lost. Make sure to check the part 1 of the article, and then proceed to this one here.

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID! AGGRESSIVE CONCENTRICS:

In order to understand this, we need to understand the definition of the few different kinds of muscular contractions. By definition:

Concentric contraction: it happens when the resistance applied to the muscle is smaller in magnitude than the force produced by the muscle, consequently it shortens. Meaning: You pick up a 5kg dumbbell and apply 6kg or more of force to it. Invariably, you will lift it. In order to make it even easier, think of pulling/pushing the weight against gravity. If it’s going up in the air, it’s concentric for most cases (there are a couple machines where the relationship is the opposite, but that’s 1% of the cases).

Eccentric contraction: happens when the resistance applied to the muscle is larger in magnitude than the force produced by the muscle, consequently it lengthens. Meaning: let’s suppose you load a barbell for bench press with 150kg, when your max capacity is 140kg. Most likely you won’t be able to handle that load, so no matter how hard you try, the bar will lower in the air. Your pectorals, shoulders and triceps will stretch at that point (you might also get an injury, don’t do that).

Isometric contraction: Iso = same, metric = length. Your muscles don’t change length in this one. The definition is ” when the resistance applied to the muscle is the same as the force produced by it, consequently the muscle length doesn’t change”. Simply going into a squat position and holding it for 30 seconds, or doing a plank are good examples of isometric contractions.

“But why to do aggressive concentrics?”

Consider your results will come from 3 variables mostly: mechanical tension, total volume load and progressive overload (these last 2 kinda overlap in terms of their definition). Mechanical tension is simply producing enough tension in the muscles to stimulate hypertrophy, and literature nowadays suggests that loads up from 30% of your 1 REP MAX are already enough to stimulate hypertrophy.

Total volume load can be simply considered as Sets X Reps X Weight lifted. So, if you are doing 3×10 @ 100 kg today, that equals 3000kg. If after 3 months you do 3x 10 @ 120kg, you will have lifted 3600kg. Most likely you will be looking bigger and stronger after some time doing that.

Progressive overload goes for progressing your total volume load, and also progressing weight in your training sessions within the same number of reps and sets.

Brad Schoenfeld in his latest book here states that hypertrophy is directly related to increasing volume over time. Now comes the catch. By applying aggressive concentrics, your strength gains will be bigger over time. Look at this picture here:

KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID! CONTROLLED ECCENTRIC:

After all this rant on concentrics, you then will ask me: “But Bryan what about the eccentrics?” The answer here is very simple and short:

Your tendons contract before your muscles. When you drop a weight uncontrollably, when returning it (pushing or pulling) you will stress your tendons more than could be desired. Also you will end up utilising elastic energy potential, which is “energy stored as a result of applying a force to deform an elastic object“, or just pulling a spring apart and then letting it go. It will come back violently to its original shape. The same applies to our tendons, and you can find a more detailed article here.

Now imagine doing that all the time. Your tendons will most likely go through some serious stress. Also, most authors say we are around 30 to 40% stronger eccentrically, so controlling the weight’s descent is a very good way to increase time under tension (which is important as hell when it comes to bodybuilding objectives). I am definitely not saying you shouldn’t ever lift without controlled eccentrics. Powerlifters do that ll the time and they are also big as hell.

There is a learning curve to go through though, and I would suggest you utilize this kind of technique only after you are very experienced already. There are many more studies showing that eccentric training improves body composition, like you can see here. There is absolutely no reason to not control your weights!

KEPE IT SIMPLE, STUPID! LONGER REST PERIODS:

This is another simple one, purely based on math. Remember when we spoke about total volume load? Well, mostly bodybuilders used to believe back then that because of the metabolic stress caused by short rest periods (30″ to 1′), hypertrophy would be enhanced. And by “metabolic stress” I mean all that “burning” sensation in your muscles. We now know that to be a wrong strategy.

By taking short periods, you will end up performing less throughout the workout because you will do less reps on the subsequent sets. Some bodybuilders still utilize this method, but we have to understand those guys also use a lot of enhancing drugs, and some of the stuff in their world do not apply to our world because of the highly anabolic environment in their bodies. Anyways, let’s take a practical example:

2 guys with exactly the same everything (height, sex, muscle mass, etc). One guy will train with short rest periods, and the other one will train with longer ones. The first trainee performs 3 sets @ 100kg resting 30″ between sets. Considering the first set will already be done at very high level of effort, they will do something like 10, 8, 5 reps. That’s a total volume load of 2300kg.

If the second guy rests 2′ between sets, they will end up performing something like 10, 10, 9 reps (or even 10), simply because you gave your muscles more time to rest between sets. Their total volume load will equal 3000kg. This subject is vastly backed up by science, and you can check some of it here.

You might ask me then “won’t the training get too long?”. It might, depending on your training set up especially. There is a simple solution for that, which I utilize with all my trainees and sometimes in my own training as well. It’s called “Antagonic Supersets”. I’ll show you a practical example:

A1 – Pull-Ups 4x 4-6, 4-0-x-0, 60″ rest

A2 – Standing Shoulder Press 4x 4-6, 4-0-x-0, 60″ rest

What we are doing here is: instead of waiting 2′ before coming back to Pull-Ups again, do a Shoulder Press set in between, since it’s an antagonistic muscle group. By doing that, you will increase your training density, you will get your longer rest periods still, and you will be able to complete your whole workout in a shorter period of time.

My most important message with this article is: Keep it simple. The more you try to make things look cool and advanced in your training, the higher the chances are you will screw up. In terms of bodybuilding, all the top notch athletes have VERY simple training routines.

Take the trainings of the likes of Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Phil Heath, and so on, and you will see that those are very simple. You need high levels of effort, consistency and dedication and your results will come with time. Cliché? Yes. Is it true though? Unfortunately yes. I would love to have a magic pill too, don’t get me wrong. But for now, since we don’t have it, push hard and…KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID!