Carl Valle Busting Myths About Eccentric Training

November 2, 2015

Today, Olympic track coach Carl Valle published 5 Myths About Eccentric Training Every Coach Ought to Know, which Fredrik Correa was pleased to read.

Every day posts on eccentric training emerge but they rarely add anything new, just regurgitating the same old slow, medium heavy to heavy eccentrics with volume overload. I’ve tried a few times to offer a different view, like why train slow and heavy when performance consists of fast, powerful eccentric loads? Why go slow when the muscle can elicit high forces in the eccentric phase at high speeds free from the inverse relationship seen with concentric contraction speed and force development? Why fear DOMS when you get a DOMS protective effect from session no 1 and when markers of tissue damage seem to be more of just markers and without any detrimental effects on strength and mass gains?

So, today I was very happy to read Carl Valle’s excellent article on Freelap busting all those myths around eccentric training in a very clear and pedagogical way, making a very good argument for more eccentric training, in all ages and different speeds. Great work Carl, keep it up. It’s probably the best piece on the Internet on eccentric training (I’ve read most). Bookmark this article and read it again when you get fed up with all nonsense articles arguing for slow pushups or counting to 5 when doing biceps curl, like that would make you a beast.

For further reading on DOMS and ‘the repeated bout effect’ from eccentric training you can always read my earlier article on the subject.

If you have any thoughts about how the kBox3 and flywheel training can help you achieve the most under-used form of training, powerful eccentric, feel free to reach out. Good luck with your training!