Alright ! Big words, but they have simple meanings. First lets ask ourselves what the word contraction means.

We can define contraction as a process in which our muscles become shorter and tighter, but that’s a general definition.

When working out you need to understand 3 types of contraction, because you will experience all 3 types when we start training and it’s a good idea to understand what the f#ck we are doing right ?

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i) Concentric Contraction – Okay so here’s the big guy, just imagine doing a bicep curl, when we bend our elbow and lift that barbell, our bicep actually shortens in length while it overcomes the resistance of gravity and the weight at hand. This type of contraction which involves muscle shortening and overcoming resistance is termed concentric contraction. Think of this as the “lifting” part of a movement for simplicity.

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ii) Eccentric Contraction – This is a contraction in which a muscle lengthens and is overcome by resistance. What the f#ck did I just say ? Let me explain.

First I’ll tell you which part of the movement this is through our bicep curl example. The eccentric contraction is the part where you lower the weight, so visualize straightening your bent elbow and lowering the weight after you did the lift. Are we clear ? So when we allow this, we allow our muscles to be overcome by the resistance of the barbell. So why is the muscle lengthening ? You need some anatomy to understand that but lets use logic here, if your muscle shortened during the lifting part (concentric portion), then it should be quite rational for it to lengthen when we perform the opposite movement right ?

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iii) Isometric Contraction – This contraction involves developing muscle tension but there is no change in the length of the muscle. In our bicep curl example, this would be where we hold the barbell in a fixed position before we lift it. There is muscle tension but we aren’t performing a movement therefore the length of the muscle remains constant. 

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That’s all you need to know for now, this simple part is necessary for you to understand tempo.

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