Eccentric exercises focus on movements that lengthen the muscle, using a countdown to lower the weight slowly into the final position of the exercise. This type of workout is mainly done while doing back or front squats, bench presses and deadlifts. Students of the strength and conditioning class dread doing eccentric workouts because they are much harder than normal workouts.

Taking the time to do a harder workout can push your body to its limit. Making sure to rest your muscles is essential to not getting injured. Putting less weight while doing eccentric is the best option considering how much harder it is to do.

Julian Hanson is a sophomore student in the strength and conditioning class. He has said that ever since Mr. Lieser has put him on eccentric workouts he has seen much faster improvement in explosiveness and muscle endurance. Muscle endurance is how long you can push your muscles past their everyday usage, which is important for sports. In baseball, it helps with being able to run the bases and get steals, Julian said.

Julian has been playing baseball since he was 6 years old, and now at 16 he can finally say that he enjoys working towards his goals. If he hadn’t started working out he said that he would have never made it to even playing in high school.