Did you know that Pilates provides eccentric training of muscles?

No one form of exercise is more special than another. They all have their own unique characteristics that will appeal to different people.  However, Pilates provides eccentric training of muscles which is a wonderful feature. Let’s learn more about what is special about Pilates.

Pilates consists of a series of matwork exercises so can be done at home on your own, in theory!  We will talk more about options of how to fit Pilates into your lifestyle.  There are also many props adding countless variations to the “basic” matwork exercises so it will always be challenging.  Pilates also has a set of equipment outfitted with springs that provides resistance training.  So it is possible to get the entire body working.  What is nice about all the equipment and exercises is that it’s all low impact so those with knee pain, for example, can still do leg exercises for the legs, strengthening leg muscles such as the quadriceps and hamstrings, without putting too much impact on the knees.  Many exercises can be done lying down, prone, supine or side lying or sitting.  

The other great thing about Pilates is that it includes a lot of eccentric training.

What is eccentric training of muscles?

What does concentric and eccentric training mean?  Concentric and eccentric are used to refer to the muscle fibers when lifting a weight.  When muscle fibers shorten this is said to be concentric use of the muscle.  When the muscle fibers lengthen this is said to eccentric use of the muscle. For example, when performing a bicep curl the muscle fibers shorten (concentric contraction) when lifting the weight and lengthen (eccentric contraction) when lowering the weight.  More eccentric muscle actions can be seen when strength training using free weights, body weight exercises and non-hydraulic exercise machines.  

Most of the activities in life use both type of muscles actions, concentric and eccentric.  For example, climbing upstairs works the quadriceps concentrically and walking down stairs works them eccentrically.  Picking up a child or laundry basket involves concentric actions of the muscles in your body while lowering the child or laundry basket involve eccentric actions.  It seems reasonable to train muscles both concentrically and eccentrically to achieve maximum benefit.

Adding some eccentric training to weight training can help with creating lean body mass and increase muscle strength and tone.

Benefits of Eccentric Training

Greater increase in strength. 

Training both concentrically and eccentrically will result in greater strength faster than with just concentric training.  Combined concentric and eccentric training using multiple sets with higher repetitions results in greater gains in muscular endurance. 

Greater muscle hypertrophy, enlargement of muscle due to resistance training.

The stimulus for muscle growth is micro trauma to the muscle fibers following exercise.  The process of lengthening (eccentric training) during a contraction increases the amount of micro trauma the muscle experiences which stimulates the muscle to rebuild and thus increase muscle fiber size.   Concentric training induces some micro trauma. The combination of concentric and eccentric training over the same period of time offers more effective promotion of muscle growth.

The eccentric contractions have shown to cause more effective muscle stimulation and breakdown of muscle fibers than concentric contractions.  Not only can eccentric contraction help build muscle faster and more efficiently, eccentric contractions require less oxygen which means eccentric muscle training puts less stress on the heart and is less likely to cause rises in blood pressure.  

Most of us are used to the more traditional concentric contraction.  i.e. lifting a weight when doing a bicep curl.  Many Pilates exercises involve both concentric and eccentric contractions.  For example, when working on the reformer, working against the spring tension usually a concentric contraction is being performed.  However, when there is a release of resistance, spring tension releases, controlling the release of the spring tension creates an eccentric contraction.