Negative Reps for Big Arms
Negative reps are an often overlooked form of specific training for big arms. We all like to concentrate on the positive part of the repetition by pushing or bringing the weight up or down but the negative reps are just as important as the negative reps can stimulate as much muscle growth as the positive reps. For those of you who are not aware of what a negative rep is let me explain with a few examples specifically for training your big arms or soon to be big arms.
When you are performing a standing barbell curl you start by holding the bar with both hands in front of your body with your palms facing forward. As you begin the movement you curl the bar upwards until the bar comes to just below your chin. This is called a positive rep. When you lower the bar slowly but still allowing the resistance to be felt on your biceps as you lower the bar down to the start position, this is called a negative rep. So bringing the bar up is the positive rep and everytime you lower the bar slowly but can still feel the intense resistance on your biceps as the bar lowers this is the negative repetition.
Advanced bodybuilders rely on the negative part of the movement to stimulate growth as much as they rely on the positive repetitions of the movement. Often inexperienced exercisers simply let the bar fall quickly with out slowly lowering it and getting the advantage of resistance on the muscle as the bar goes up as well as down. Negative reps are ideal for big arms.
You can perform negative repetitions for all muscle groups by lowering the weight slowly after the initial positive repetition. For example if you were doing tricep pushdowns you would push the weight down till your arms are straight and then slowly allow the weight to come back up by concentrating on feeling the resistance on the triceps as you return to the top position before pushing down or performing the next positive rep again.
So remember when training for accelerated muscle growth concentrate on the negative reps as well as the positive reps and it will be like you are getting twice the workout and hopefully you will stimulate twice the growth.