Negatives

Hey all,

I was reading an article in Men's Health that had an interesting tip. It recommended doing a negative weight work out because it supposedly increases your metabolism for 72 hours. Honestly, it seems too good to be true, and it didn't answer why regular weight lifting doesn't do this. Still, Men's Health is usually pretty accurate with fitness information. So, if you're wondering how to do a negative or what it is, I'll explain it in the next paragraph.

Doing a negative is pretty easy. It's the opposite motion of a normal lift. Usually with a lift like benching, the common practice is to use a weight over your one rep max. This, of course, means that you will need a spotter. However, there's no reason why this can't be applied to lifts normally done with dumb bells or kettle bells. I've only began to do this, and I have yet to see much change. If you want to try it, I would recommend taking it slow if you've never done these before.

If strength gain is the primary objective, you be able to do no more than six reps to achieve the maximum effect. Also, if you're plateaued with your current work out, this can be an excellent workout to break the cycle.. Have fun and good luck.