Best Way to Increase Strength – Use Concentric Only Movements
When most lifters think about getting stronger, the first thing they turn to is slow eccentrics, pauses, or “time under tension” training. That makes sense, eccentric training has long been credited as the secret weapon for muscle growth and strength because of the mechanical tension and muscle damage it creates. But what if I told you there’s another way to build brute, undeniable strength?
That’s right, I am talking about concentric-only training — one of the most overlooked but most brutally effective ways to increase strength.
Concentric-only lifts are raw. They require pure force production from a dead stop. No stored elastic energy, no rebound, no momentum. Just you, your nervous system, and the iron. These types of lifts demand more from your body than almost any other form of training: more muscle fiber recruitment, greater neural drive, and more tenacity to overcome inertia.
In this blog, we’ll break down why concentric-only movements are so powerful, how they differ from eccentric training, and why tools like the pin press, dead squat, and traditional deadlift can help you get stronger faster. We’ll also pay homage to the legendary Bob Peoples, arguably the greatest deadlifter of all time and the pioneer of using negative deadlifts as a way to enhance concentric strength.
If your goal is to build not just muscle, but unshakable strength, then concentric-only training might be the missing piece of your program.
Concentric vs. Eccentric – The Basics
To understand the power of concentric-only training, we first need to define the two primary types of muscle contractions that occur during lifting:
Concentric contraction: This happens when a muscle shortens under load. Think about pressing the barbell off your chest in the bench press, standing up out of a squat, or pulling the bar from the floor in a deadlift.
Eccentric contraction: This is when a muscle lengthens under load. Examples include lowering the bar down to your chest, descending into a squat, or controlling the bar on the way down in a deadlift.
Most lifters combine both phases in training, often with a greater emphasis on the eccentric. This is because eccentrics are strongly linked with muscle hypertrophy (the process of growing muscle size) due to the mechanical damage and remodeling they cause.
But strength isn’t always about size. It’s about the ability to generate force and overcome resistance. That’s where concentric-only work steps into the spotlight.
The Stretch-Shortening Cycle
To really appreciate concentric-only training, we need to talk about the stretch-shortening cycle.
This cycle occurs when a muscle quickly lengthens under load (eccentric) and then immediately shortens (concentric). Think of a basketball player dipping before a jump or a powerlifter bouncing slightly out of the bottom of a squat. The eccentric loading stores elastic energy in the tendons and muscle fibers, which is then released during the concentric phase.
The stretch-shortening cycle is powerful. It allows athletes to produce more force than they would from a purely concentric start.
But here’s the key: concentric-only lifts completely remove the stretch-shortening cycle. The bar starts motionless, and you don’t get the advantage of stored elastic energy. That means you’re forced to rely entirely on raw muscular force and neural drive.
And that’s exactly what makes concentric-only movements such powerful tools for strength development.
Why Eccentrics Make You Stronger (Acknowledging Their Role)
Before we crown concentric-only training as king, let’s give credit where it’s due: eccentrics absolutely play a critical role in strength training.
Muscle damage and hypertrophy: Eccentric contractions cause more microscopic tears in muscle fibers, which stimulates greater repair and growth. This is why bodybuilders love slow negatives.
Motor control: Eccentric phases teach lifters control, stability, and coordination under load.
Connective tissue strengthening: The eccentric phase helps build stronger tendons and ligaments, reducing injury risk.
In short, eccentrics make you bigger and more resilient. But they don’t always push you to produce maximal force the way concentric-only lifts do.
Why Concentric-Only Training Can Make You Even Better
So why go concentric-only if eccentrics already do so much? The answer is simple: strength is about force production, and concentric-only lifts demand maximum force production from the very first millisecond.
Here’s why:
Overcoming inertia: When the barbell is sitting motionless on the pins or the floor, there’s no momentum to help you. Your body has to create all the force needed to move it.
Greater neural drive: Concentric-only lifts force your nervous system to recruit high-threshold motor units right away. These are the biggest, strongest muscle fibers you have, and training them directly builds maximum strength.
More muscle fiber recruitment: Without elastic energy, you’re forced to recruit more fibers to get the bar moving.
Builds starting strength: Concentric-only training directly improves your ability to generate power from a dead stop — a critical skill in both sports and powerlifting.
Mental toughness: These lifts feel heavier and more awkward because you don’t have the rhythm of a full lift. Training them builds confidence and grit, making your competition lifts feel easier.
Put simply: eccentric work makes you bigger, but concentric-only work makes you stronger.
Key Concentric-Only Strength Builders
There are many ways to train concentric-only, but three lifts stand above the rest: the pin press, dead squat, and deadlift.
1. Pin Press
The pin press is performed inside a power rack with the bar resting on pins set at chest level (or slightly above). Instead of lowering the bar and pressing it back up, you press it directly off the pins.
Why it works:
Eliminates the stretch reflex, forcing pure concentric drive.
Builds power off the chest, one of the hardest parts of the bench press.
Strengthens the triceps and lockout.
This is one of the most brutal and effective ways to build pressing strength.
2. Dead Squat
The dead squat is performed by starting from the bottom position in a rack with the bar resting on pins at squat depth.
Why it works:
Builds insane starting strength out of the hole.
Forces perfect bracing and positioning — you can’t cheat the setup.
Overloads the nervous system and quads.
Athletes who consistently train dead squats often see massive improvements in their regular squat.
3. Deadlift
The deadlift is perhaps the most well-known concentric-only lift. Unlike the squat or bench press, the deadlift begins from the floor with no eccentric preload. You simply walk up to the bar, brace, and pull.
Why it works:
Pure concentric drive from the start.
Builds brute strength in the hips, back, and grip.
Teaches lifters how to create tension before the bar even moves.
The deadlift is already concentric-only — but it can be made even more powerful when we add eccentric variations.
The Deadlift Paradox – Using Eccentrics to Strengthen a Concentric Lift
Here’s where things get interesting: while the deadlift is inherently a concentric lift, eccentric variations of the deadlift can actually make your concentric stronger.
How? Controlled negatives, also known as negative deadlifts.
By lowering the bar slowly after a pull, you teach your body several key lessons:
Hip positioning: You learn exactly how your hips should track through the lift.
Full-body tension: Maintaining tightness throughout the eccentric teaches you how to stay braced during the concentric.
Elastic energy: A controlled negative stores energy that makes consecutive reps stronger and more explosive.
This style of training was pioneered by none other than Bob Peoples, one of the greatest deadlifters of all time. Born over 100 years ago, Peoples was ahead of his era in both technique and training philosophy. He is often credited with creating the negative deadlift, a method that helped him pull unbelievable weights in a time before advanced equipment, coaching, or even modern sports science.
Paying homage to Peoples is important because his work laid the foundation for modern deadlifting. His willingness to experiment and push the limits is what gave us many of the methods lifters still use today.
How to Program Concentric-Only Movements
So how do you put all of this into practice?
General Rules
Concentric-only lifts are CNS-intensive (hard on your nervous system) but cause less muscle damage. This means you can train them more frequently than eccentric-heavy lifts, but recovery must still be monitored.
Best trained with low reps and high intensity. Singles, doubles, and triples are your bread and butter.
Perfect for building strength in sticking points.
Sample Programming Ideas
Pin Press: 3–5 sets of 3–5 reps at 70–80% of 1RM. Focus on exploding the bar off the pins.
Dead Squat: 3-5 sets of 1-3 reps at 70-80% of 1RM from the pins. Treat each rep as a max-effort concentric.
Deadlift with Negatives: Find a way to start at the top of the lift, perhaps off hooks. Then lower under control for 3–5 seconds. Perform 3–4 sets of 2–3 reps.
Weekly Integration
Day 1: Squat + Dead Squats from pins.
Day 2: Bench + Pin Press.
Day 3: Negative “Bob People” Deadlifts + Deadlifts for Speed
This rotation keeps the focus on concentric strength while still allowing you to benefit from eccentric phases in the deadlift.
Why Athletes Benefit Beyond Powerlifting
Concentric-only training isn’t just for powerlifters. It has huge benefits for athletes across the board:
Field athletes: Sprinters and football players rely on starting strength to explode off the line.
Combat athletes: Punches, takedowns, and grapples often happen without a windup — concentric-only training mimics this demand.
Everyday lifters: Teaches bracing, control, and grit under the bar, making all lifts feel more stable.
The ability to generate force from a dead stop is one of the most transferable strength qualities you can develop.
Conclusion
Eccentrics will always have their place in training. They build size, control, and resilience. But if your goal is to maximize strength, you can’t afford to overlook concentric-only training.
By removing the stretch reflex and forcing your body to generate power from a dead stop, concentric-only movements demand greater muscle fiber recruitment, more neural drive, and unshakable tenacity. Tools like the pin press, dead squat, and deadlift can transform your strength training, making your lifts more powerful and your body more resilient.
And as Bob Peoples showed us over 100 years ago, sometimes the best way forward is to strip lifting down to its rawest form: a motionless bar, a deep breath, and the will to move it.
So the next time you step into the gym, challenge yourself. Put the bar on the pins, set your feet under the squat rack, or load up a deadlift bar and pull it like your life depends on it. Concentric-only training might just be the secret weapon that takes your strength to the next level.