Using Reverse Exercises to Gain Strength

This Golf Digest post on eccentric training by fitness advisor Ben Shear is going to sound a bit weird to many of you, but this is a well-established technique among bodybuilders and strength athletes. The post includes seven exercises with instructions.

I decided to link to this article because it's specifically golf-related but you can do many other types of exercises this way. The photo shows "let downs" as opposed to pull ups. I'll explain why this is a great exercise technique below.



The idea behind eccentric training is that you focus your effort on the part of an exercise movement where you often relax. For example, most people focus on the "pulling up" part of a pull up. However, you can get the same sort of strengthening by focusing on the "letting down" part. You're using your muscles the same way, working against gravity... but it's a bit easier.

The key here is that you slow down this part of the exercise. For example, if it takes a count of one to pulling up motion, you might try to take a count of FOUR for the lowering part.

This is a great way to develop strength to do tough exercises when you aren't particularly strong. For example, if you aren't strong enough to do pull ups, you could use a chair to get in the "up" position shown at the left of the above photo and then slowly lower yourself, then use the chair again and so on. This allows you to build up muscle without as much strain because you're using gravity to help you.

I've used the eccentric technique before and it really does help, especially for those exercises that are just too hard to do when you start. It's yet one more technique to help you get your New Year's exercise program off the ground.