When it comes to getting the best out of your workout, concentric exercises are a vital part of working your bodily muscle groups to tone or build them. But as any fitness fanatic will know, there are dozens of concentric exercises that one can use for their weekly fitness routine.

Today we’ll be delving into concentric exercises so that anyone - a beginner or a seasoned gym goer - will be able to understand their benefits and know when best to focus on them to meet their fitness goals.

Read on below for everything you need to know about concentric exercises to get started on your journey to smashing your fitness goals.

What are concentric exercises?

Concentric exercises are entire exercise techniques, or part of an exercise technique, that involves the contraction of a muscle and/or muscle groups.

An easy example to think about is a sit up exercise. The movement you make when you sit up from your resting position on your back to the upright position at the midpoint of the movement would be a concentric movement. In this movement, you’d be contacting your core stomach muscles and various other muscle groups in your body to lift yourself from the floor.

Sit ups are only one example of a concentric exercise - there are dozens of others, all with their own benefits.

Another common example of an exercise that is concentric would be a bicep curl - but specifically the section of the full curl motion where you are pulling your arm upwards against the weight you are lifting. This pulling motion will cause your bicep to contract.

What are the benefits of concentric exercises?

Every type of exercise will have distinct benefits that make them worth adding to your workout routine. For exercises that are concentric, they’ll generally have the following benefits for your workout:

• They will help build muscle mass. For those wishing to build up their muscles, these types of exercises that contract your muscles are ideal (especially if you contract your muscles while lifting weights).

• They will help improve the strength of muscles and muscle groups. By being progressive with your concentric exercises and the weights you use, you’ll be able to consistently improve your ability to lift heavier weights.

• Faster recovery time. When concentric exercises are compared against other kinds of muscular exercise (such as eccentric exercises that lengthen your muscles), your body is able to recover from concentric exercises much easier and quicker.

• Improving your muscle power. Being able to contract your muscles and muscle groups against heavier weights will increase the power you are able to generate with that muscle - especially for lighter weights that you train with.

Types of Concentric Exercises

In the human body there are a vast selection of muscles and muscle groups that you can improve using concentric exercises, such as:

Chest Contraction Exercises

These kinds of exercises are great for improving your muscle groups in and around your upper torso or ‘chest’ area. Some exercises to consider for your fitness routine to improve your chest muscles are:

Bodyweight Exercises

• Push-ups. This is the quintessential bodyweight exercise that also happens to be a fantastic concentric exercise. There are a variety of push-ups you can do, and they are easy to progress by wearing weights in a backpack.

• Dips. These are less common but are brilliant for improving your chest muscles. Much like push-ups these can be made more difficult by adding weights.

Weighted Exercises

• Dumbbell flyes. For those who have dumbbells at home, or come along to your local Village Gym, dumbbell flyes are another great concentric exercise. For those not familiar with these, you begin with dumbbells outstretched at either side of your body level with your shoulder. Lower the dumbbells down to your sides, then back up to their starting position. Repeat as many times as needed. It is important to maintain control throughout the duration of each fly.

• Dumbbell bench press. If implementing concentric exercises into your workout routine for the chest is important, then we’d recommend the dumbbell bench press as opposed to the regular bar bench press. This is because using two dumbbells will give you a wider range of motion compared to the regular bar bench press.

Bicep Contraction Exercises

For those who want to work on their upper arm strength and toning, there are a range of effective bicep contraction exercises to implement into your fitness routine, such as:

• Bicep curls. These can be done standing or sitting, depending on preference. Use heavier weights and lower repetitions to improve muscular strength or lighter weights and higher repetitions to improve muscular endurance.

• Hammer curls. While this type of weighted curl will also improve your forearm, the bicep and tricep muscle group does its fair share of contractions. This exercise is performed by pulling the weights upwards at either side of your body from a stationary position. The palms of your hands should be facing your body.

Core Contraction Exercises

The body's core muscles are vital for a full range of motion and to improve overall bodily strength as well as endurance. Concentric exercises are great at improving the core too, with exercises such as:

• Sit ups. As briefly touched on earlier in the guide, sit-ups are contraction exercises for the core. For increased difficulty, you can hold a weight while doing sit-ups.

• C-shaped sit-ups (hollow body hold). This is a variant of the sit up that will also help you work the muscles in and around your upper torso and waist area. Lie flat on the ground and, keeping your legs and arms straight, lift them up towards the ceiling as far as you can without losing balance. Repeat as many times as required. If done correctly, your body should form the shape of the letter ‘c’ (or something close).

Hamstring Contraction Exercises

Hamstring contraction exercises (or concentric leg exercises) will help you improve leg strength, the explosive power you’ll be able to generate with your legs, and your overall hamstring flexibility. If you want to focus on concentric hamstring exercise, use exercises such as:

• Glute bridges. These are fantastic dynamic exercises that will not only help you improve hamstring flexibility but will also double up as a glue contraction exercise. For those unfamiliar, lie on your back with your legs bent (and knees pointing to the ceiling). Position your feet as close as is comfortable to your glutes. Position your arms by each side. Push upwards with your hips until your body forms a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Hold the glute bridge in this posture briefly, before returning to the starting position. Repeat as many times as needed.

• Leg curls. These are best done on a leg curl machine with weights but can also be completed with a resistance band. Choose your weight (or apply your resistance band) then lie down on your front. Curl your heels towards your glutes and lower your legs back to their starting position. Repeat as many times as needed.

Concentrically Exercise With Village Gym

Wanting to hone your muscles? Want to do so with state-of-the-art equipment in a friendly gym environment? Head on down to your local Village Gym and get started working towards your fitness goals!

For those who want more direction, we have personal trainers available to help you out and dedicated classes.

Get started on your fitness journey.