Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

HARD WORK—THE BIGGEST TEST OF TRAINING CHARACTER
metric strength left. And when your isometric strength is exhausted you still
have eccentric strength left. To be able to exercise what eccentric strength
you have left you would need assistance to get the resistance through the
concentric phase of a rep. When your eccentric strength is exhausted—i.e.,
when the resistance cannot be controlled in its downward descent—the
involved musculature will be temporarily paralyzed.
a. Concentric (or positive) failure occurs when you can no longer lift the
weight through a full range of motion under your own steam, i.e., when
the resistance gets stuck before the normal end point of a rep.
b. Isometric failure occurs when you can no longer hold the weight statically,
and the resistance starts descending despite your very best efforts
to hold it still.
c. Eccentric (or negative) failure occurs when you can no longer lower the
weight under control. Control can be defined as the ability to keep the
descent time to at least four seconds for a single eccentric phase.
9.12 Total and absolute muscular failure occurs only once eccentric failure has
been reached.
9.13 Training to eccentric failure is potentially very dangerous, especially in
exercises where the resistance is overhead or bearing down on you, e.g.,
bench press and squat. ere is a risk of losing control to such a degree
that you get crushed, or the involved musculature and connective tissue are
overstretched. It is also not a practical way to train because, at least in the
big exercises, it necessitates the use of at least two strong spotters to help
you raise the weight through the concentric phase. If the assistance is not
provided properly, your risk of injury is considerable. On top of this, to train
to eccentric failure in the biggest exercises is likely to devastate you systemically,
and produce overtraining.
9.14 A situation where working to eccentric failure on a regular basis can be a
good idea is the pullup/chin when the trainee is not strong enough to perform
full reps. To build the strength to perform a set of successive full-range
concentric chins, stick to a set of slow eccentrics. A bench or box should be
used to get into the starting position for each rep, with the clavicles or upper
chest touching the overhead bar, and then the pull of gravity should be
resisted as much as possible. e set should be terminated when the eccentric
cannot be controlled. (An alternative way to build the strength needed
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