Tap into the power of negative training
By Jeffrey Keough, Prevention
[post_ads]"That's the dirty little secret of most popular diet plans," says exercise researcher Ellington Darden, PhD, author of the new Women's Health book, The Body Fat Breakthrough. "They don't combine muscle-maintaining exercises with the calorie reduction. More muscle is your ticket to a better body."
It's called "negative training,"
and Darden tested it on more than 100 people at Gainesville Health &
Fitness in Florida a few years ago. The technique involves doing the
lowering part, or "eccentric phase," of a resistance exercise very
slowly. But Darden gave this old-school bodybuilding
trick a tweak: He found that by using heavier weights and doing just
one and a half reps very, very slowly, you can achieve remarkable
results from just one or two short workouts per week.
To get a taste of what Darden calls "negative-accentuated training,"
grab two dumbbells, and stand upright with your arms straight and the
weights resting against your thighs. Do a quick bicep curl to get the
weights to your shoulders; that's the starting position. Now very slowly
lower the dumbbells—that's the negative phase—taking 10 to 20 seconds
to let them lower to your thighs. Then immediately curl the weight very
slowly to your shoulders (again, it should take 10 to 20 seconds)—that's
the positive phase of the lift. Finally, without pausing, do another
negative movement, taking a final 10 to 20 seconds to lower the weights
to your thighs. So the idea is that you'll do the negative movement for
twice as long total as you do the positive movement. (Eventually, you'll
want to increase to 30 seconds for each phase of this exercise.)
By doing one and a half reps of a lift, you can complete a workout in
just 20 to 30 minutes—and feel like you've exercised for more than an
hour. The moves are simply that tough, which is why you'll need several
days for your muscles to recover.
The negative-accentuated style
of weight training results in 40 to 50 percent greater stress being put
on your muscles, compared to more conventional training methods, says
Darden. This stimulates key hormones that boost muscular growth and
oxidize fat-cell content at a faster rate. "It may be that the higher
level of stress put on your muscles, combined with just the right amount
of carbohydrates, decreases insulin responsiveness in fat cells to make
them shrink," says Darden.
[post_ads_2]
In
addition to emphasizing this unique lifting strategy, Darden's plan
also includes nine other "Fat Bombs," or small lifestyle changes that
help people gain muscle and lose weight—as much as a 30 pounds in 30
days. Among those strategies are drinking plenty of cold water to stay
full and burn calories through thermogenesis, walking nightly after
dinner to boost body heat and trigger increased fat loss, and following a
meal plan made up of roughly 50 percent carbohydrates, 25 percent
protein, and 25 percent fat.
People who tried the plan during its test phase swear by it: "I
burned multiple layers of fat from my waist (12 inches off) and am
stronger and fitter than ever," says 42-year-old Melissa Norman, who
lost 52 pounds in 24 weeks.
For the complete weight-loss plan and more of Ellington Darden's tips, check out The Body Fat Breakthrough!
