“Eccentric movement refers to the phase of muscle contraction where the muscle lengthens while under tension. This occurs when a muscle is actively resisting a force whilst being stretched ...

“Eccentric contractions can activate the brain more,” he said, adding it takes greater concentration in focusing on lowering weights. “We already know one eccentric muscle contraction a day ...

Eccentric contractions, meanwhile, use less energy during the exercise but are believed to cause greater breakdown in muscle fiber and greater strength once they're rebuilt.

An eccentric contraction is when the muscle is lengthening; in this case, like lowering a heavy dumbbell in a bicep curl.

However, the eccentric group saw significant improvements in strength across all three measurements: concentric increased 12.8 per cent, isometric 10.2 per cent and eccentric 12.2 per cent.

However, there’s one more phase of the curl, the eccentric contraction. This is when the muscle is lengthening as you lower the arm holding a dumbbell away from the chest.

And the group doing only six contractions per session, five days a week, saw significant strength and muscle thickness changes. Those changes in muscle size were similar to the 30 contraction ...