[Supertraining] Eccentric Action and Muscle Soreness

> ================================
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ed White<mailto:kitesurfer257@...>
> To:
Supertraining@yahoogroups.com<mailto:Supertraining@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2008 8:13 AM
> Subject: [Supertraining] Negative Only - Eccentric Training
>
> I am very busy and experimenting with ways to develop maximum
muscle mass and strength with the least amount of training time. I am
not a power-lifter - so demonstrating strength is not part of the
issue.
>
> I have had good success using drop sets and Dan Moore's Max
Stimulation (20 rep sets with heavy weights and a brief rest between
each rep).
>
> Now I am ready to experiment with negative only (eccentric
training). Does anyone in our group have experience with this type of
training. Any advice would be appreciated.
>
> =============================

The below seems pertinent to recent discussions:

Dr Mel Siff wrote:

PUZZLE & PARADOX 63

ECCENTRIC ACTION AND MUSCLE SORENESS?

The contention that eccentric exercise generally produces more
stiffness and soreness than other forms of muscle action may be misleading and inaccurate.

Considerable research apparently has shown that significant levels
of post-exercise soreness or DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) are produced after regimes of eccentric training. For instance, Friden et al (1983) (Intl J of Sports Med Vol 4 No 3) determined that a single session of intense eccentric exercise causes pronounced DOMS which peaks after 24-72 hours after exercise and disappears several days later. This soreness is accompanied by a reduced dynamic strength and damage to the microfibrils and connective tissue elements such as the Z-bands which are a component of the Series Elastic Component of the muscle complex.

These researchers also examined the effects of longer periods of
eccentric exercise (3 sessions a week over a total of 8 weeks) and discovered that post-exercise soreness not only did not occur after 2-3 weeks, but the ability to perform eccentric work even increased by 375%. At the same time biopsies revealed that Z-band damage had not taken place, suggesting that adaptation to eccentric exercise had occurred. This research was corroborated by Schwane & Armstrong (1983), who found that downhill running in rats produced a superior training effect to level or uphill training and prevented injury more effectively than the latter.

Thus, it would seem that eccentric training tends to cause muscle
soreness to a significant degree predominantly in novice subjects or those unused to eccentric activity and that adaptation takes place among more experienced athletes and minimises the occurrence of soreness after eccentric activity. This would then suggest that various therapists and coaches may be exaggerating the dangers or work-reducing effects of eccentric training.

The process of this adaptation to eccentric loading may also be less
well understood than we currently may imagine, since the competitive
weightlifter and bodybuilder regularly apply the principle of progressive overload, i.e. the gradual and periodic increase in loading. This type of loading is invariably associated with a heavily or maximally loaded eccentric phase of joint movement, so that adaptation to a lower level of eccentric stress logically would seem to be rather irrelevant to adaptation to higher levels of eccentric loading.

Would it not seem logical then to anticipate that exposure to
greater levels of eccentric loading would once again stress the soft tissues and once again cause DOMS? In other words, one should experience stiffness and soreness after every training session with increased eccentric loading. However, both research and training experience by thousands of competitive lifters has shown that this does not generally occur, even after record-breaking attempts at world championships. It would seem that something is not quite
correct about our assumptions or knowledge concerning the nature of eccentric training.

Before this argument can be taken further, we have to ask something
about how the eccentric loading was produced in the experimental studies. Was the eccentric loading at slow or rapid speeds? Was the loading maximal eccentric (whatever that may be!) or was it eccentric action done with one's concentric 1RM (Rep Max)? Was the eccentric training done for one or many repetitions? Was an elastic or ballistic recoil permitted between the eccentric action and the subsequent concentric action? Was the eccentric study done to examine maximal strength, strength-endurance or some other motor ability? At what mean and peak limb velocities were the downhill
running studies performed? Can all of the studies justifiably be compared and extrapolated from laboratory settings to the setting of functional sports activity?

Do all of the major muscle groups produce similar results concerning
the after-effects of eccentric training among novice and experienced
athletic subjects? Can we justifiably compare the experimental results of sub-maximal or light, long duration eccentric actions with brief duration, near maximal or maximal eccentric actions?

Then we have to ask how we can define maximal eccentric loading ,
realising that one can manage far greater loading under this type of muscle action than under isometric or concentric conditions. What about the effect of the rate of amortisation of the eccentric action? During running, jumping and so-called plyometric actions, the eccentric action is terminated very rapidly, quite unlike the situation occurring during a very heavy powerlifting squat or bench press. This rapid deceleration phase is followed by a very brief explosive isometric phase during the coupling time between the eccentric action and the subsequent concentric action.
What is the effect of this explosive deceleration phase on soft tissue conditioning, integrity and damage? Can we separate this after-effects of this type of laoding from those following slow eccentric action? There are many other questions such as these which concern the issue of eccentric muscle action.

In the light of the above discussion, are we justified in blaming
post-exercise soreness and stiffness on eccentric loading to the extent that so many exercise professionals and therapists do? In answering this question, comment on the other issues which were identified above and relate them to your response. As usual, use of supporting references is always helpful.

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I still would like to know how one compares MAXIMUM concentric and eccentric strength - has anyone ever measured maximum eccentric strength, since this implies that the muscle has been taken to its mechanical limits (i.e. tissue rupture)? Can we ever accurately state that maximum eccentric strength is greater than maximum concentric or maximum isometric strength?

I suppose that the best that we can do is compare the torque produced under different conditions at the same angular joint velocity at the same joint angles (which roughly translates to the same movement tempo). Any other suggestions?

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Jamie Carruthers
Wakefied, UK

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