Optimizing Exercises with Eccentric Motion and Plyometrics

Many of you will already have your own strength routines that you do on a regular basis, which is fantastic. The advice we provide in this article is intended to help supplement what you are already doing with new or different exercises tailored for fencing or to help you get more out the exercises you are already doing.

We want to point out that there are certain physiological tricks you can implement to maximize the exercises we recommend as well as those that you may already be doing. For our exercises, we set out guidelines for specific progressions. However, we also believe it’s worth reviewing these types of progressions as general concepts to help optimize any exercise.

Most traditional strength movements contain two different components: the concentric (+) motion and the eccentric (-) motion. The concentric motion tends to be the part of the exercise where you feel the most exertion. For example, in a push up, the concentric motion occurs when you lift away from the floor, straightening your arms from a bent position (the “pushing up” part). The eccentric part occurs when you bend your elbows and lower yourself down.

Scott helps us understand why this is important. If you walk into any gym and watch the way that the majority of people perform strength exercises, you will see that they typically neglect the eccentric aspect of the exercise. They do not control the eccentric motion, often lowering weights down very quickly or, in the example of the push up, dropping down rapidly so their chest nearly touches the ground. The reason for this is that most people mistakenly think all of the benefit comes from what they think is the hard part: the concentric motion. However, research shows that performing the eccentric part of the exercise slowly (and mindfully) actually loads the muscles more than the concentric part, leading to better strength results! In other words, if you focus just as much on the eccentric motion of most exercises, you will get stronger faster. You will be interested to know that you are already stronger in the eccentric motions by a ratio of approximately 1.4 to 1. That means that if you can lift 100 pounds concentrically, you can lower 140 pounds eccentrically. One very important caveat to mention is that eccentric exercise has been proven to cause more muscle soreness, so be warned and proceed cautiously!

Another, often neglected, technique for enhancing explosive strength involves incorporating “plyometrics” into your exercise. This is a fancy word for something that our body does naturally: the preloading of a muscle with a quick stretch in order to enhance our strength output. Scott explains that our muscles have certain properties which allow them to store potential energy (sorry, back to the physics terms) which it then converts to kinetic energy. In a real world example, imagine the movement your body makes when you jump up to touch something above you that is out of your reach. You don’t just jump straight away. First you bend your knees slightly, loading energy into your calf and quadriceps muscles as they stretch, and then spring into the air. This is plyometrics at work.

In some exercises you can take advantage of this property to enhance your strength training. For example, let’s say you are working on your vertical jump and typically practice jumping as high as you can, over and over. You can improve the effectiveness of this exercise by first jumping off a bench, and then immediately as you land, springing into your standing vertical jump.

By first jumping off of a bench, you force the muscles in your legs to deal with more pre-loaded energy than you do by simply jumping from a standing position, thus earning greater rewards on your effort. Imagine doing the same exercise but instead of the vertical jump, you explode into a lunge. This is a great example of a fencing transferable exercise.

In this article, we have noted which exercises can be progressed by using plyometrics. Plyometrics are not appropriate for all exercises, so be sure to do some research or work with a medical or fitness professional before incorporating them into other fencing workout routines.

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Now let's look at the the 4 key fencing actions and accompanying fencing exercises.