Pure Negative Only Training

Pure Negative Only Training

By Fitness Scientist

I was just going through some old computer files, and to my pleasant surprise I found a e-mail I sent to a friend about Negative Training the way we did it back in the early l970's. I am going to do a cut and paste of the letter.

This when there was not much known about what I call "Pure Negative Training." I will search more and hopefully come up with more data on the resistance, reps, and so forth. Finding this a few minutes ago brought a real big smile to my face.

The wording is the same way I wrote it to a friend named "Tom." Frankly, I cannot remember who it was I wrote it to and I don't want to name the wrong person. The person "Dave" who I mention
is David Mastorakis, the youngest man to ever enter a Mr. America contest. On this site, I have already written an article about him that I wrote for Muscle Training Illustrated years ago.

I am having some trouble getting photos posted on this site, so until then all I can say is that,
arguably David Mass as he is sometimes called has and had on of the greatest physiques in the history of bodybuilding. He an I have been friends since the l960's.

Not only is his physique awe inspiring so is his strength. I'll comment more in another post but I just want to get this letter posted, so you can get a feel of how we figured out a way (which I am not recommending now a days)

Here's the letter, as it was written:

"Hi Tom:

My friend, David Mastorakis, asked me to write to you about the way he and I trained on Negative Only Training, years ago.

In a sense, he and I helped pioneered the Negative Training back in the early 70’s, before it became well know, thanks to Arthur Jones and Ellington Darden. I will give you a simple overview of what we did. I say simple because it is very simple to adapt a Negative program.

Probably the most “negative” issue related to Negative training is that you will become so strong, you will not be able to find training partners to hand the weight to you. As you probably know, Nautilus and MedX inventor, Arthur Jones, did design and sell what is called “Negative Training Equipment”. You may find some available as used training equipment.

Here is basically the way David Trained.

A total of five exercises were used. 1). Squat, 2) Bench Press, 3) Negative Chins (palms toward face), 4) Overhead Press, and 5) Two Arm Curls.

Only one set of exercise is performed. Some people may need a warm-up set, using moderate resistance. That set should not be to complete failure, look at it as a warm-up.

Speed-of-Movement was a Negative Only movement, starting in the position of muscular contraction, slowly unlocking the arms\legs, and controlling the movement for four seconds downward.

When the movement reached the bottom position, helpers would, in a careful way, lift the weight back into the contracted position, slowly release the resistance and the resistance is controlled into the finished position. There is no rest periods allowed between reps. At the start of the reps, the movement seems light, but quickly, after several reps, the resistance will begin to move faster.

However, although we used five reps as the baseline, if we were capable of doing a rep or two more, we went for it. Do not automatically stop at a predetermined amount of reps, even when training in a standard fashion.

At the point, it becomes uncontrollable, the movement is stopped, and the weight taken, away from the person doing the reps. When beginning this type of program, it is OK to rest for no more than one minute. Then, back to the next exercise.

Ideally, each workout, you would reduce your recuperation time, by a few seconds, eventually you would be capable of almost zero rest between exercises. This is known as Metabolic Conditioning, which is the ultimate sign of fitness.

Back then; we trained only twice a week on Negative’s. This would be a Monday, and Thursday. Trying to allow for complete biochemical recuperation. Eventually, we realized that more rest was required, so we lengthened the rest between workouts to, only once every four or five days.

You can tell you are adequately, recovering because you will get very strong and match or exceed your reps from the last workout.

The common suggestion for Negative training is to use 40% more for the movement. This can be a good starting point for those who have trained for a period; however, it may be too much for a beginner. Be careful.

Also, after getting the feel of the movements, within a few workouts, you will notice that an increase of say 40%, may be too much for single joint movements, such as curls. Adapt accordingly.

This is what we noticed back then. It is seldom, if ever talked about in present day advice. Perhaps, no one else has noticed this.

Multi-joint movements, like squats, will allow more than a 40% increase in weight. Experience will give you some insight.

Tom, I no longer have our records, since this was over 30 years ago. Maybe David can comment on this aspect of the training.

Nevertheless, as one example, let me illustrate the way negative squats were done.

The squat bar was loaded to well over 500 pounds. Two wire cables were attached to the squat bar, one on each end.

Those cables ran straight up towards the ceiling. Then, they ran along the rafters, about eight feet, and then, the wires\chains dropped from the rafters, down about four feet.

The cables were connected by a metal bar. This bar hung in the air. Looking like a trapeze.

David would take the weight on his shoulders, and begin to squat. As he reached the bottom position, in a controlled manner, we would have two people to lift the resistance, in position to help, on each side of the bar.

In addition, we had two people pulling and/or performing a chinning movement, on the trapeze bar. Their bodyweight, pulling on the bar, and the folks lifting the squat bar, would enable David to stand up and within a few seconds perform another squat.

That squatting and helping would continue to absolute, utter failure.

All exercises were to utter failure.

Training like this is an incredible experience. You soon feel strong enough to walk through walls.

This kind of training is dangerous. As an example, if the spotters are not alert, the trainee can sustain a serious injury, such as a broken rib cage. Remember that “Impact Force”, is the weight of the bar, multiplied by the speed-of-movement. This can add up to thousands of pounds of impact.

This type of exercise is only for conscious people, not those who cannot focus.

As I mentioned, results are awesome but will very person to person, based on their genetics.

The uncomfortable part of the training is the immense burn in the muscles during exercise, but more painful is the resulting muscular soreness, which can last for a few days.


Best Wishes,
Joe Mullen"

================ end of the letter

As I mentioned I will attempt to find more info about Negative Training and will share it with
everyone.