SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Physiol.
Sec. Exercise Physiology
This article is part of the Research TopicAcute and Chronic Physiological Adaptations to Resistance Exercises Across Various Populations: Mechanisms and Practical ApplicationsView all 30 articles
Accentuated Eccentric Loading in Lower-Body Resistance Training: A Systematic Review of Acute and Chronic adaptations on Strength, Power, and Speed Outcomes
Provisionally accepted
- Capital University of Physical Education and Sports, Beijing, China
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Background: Accentuated eccentric loading (AEL) prescribes an eccentric load exceeding the paired concentric load to exploit greater force capacity during lengthening. Despite suggested benefits, findings on its efficacy versus traditional resistance training (TRT) remain inconsistent. This review synthesises evidence on AEL's acute and chronic effects. Methods: Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, we searched PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase to June 2025 for trials where eccentric loading exceeded concentric loading in lower limb exercises. We included peer-reviewed acute and longitudinal trials in healthy humans comparing AEL with traditional conditions on strength, power, sprint, and change-of-direction (COD) outcomes. Due to heterogeneity, a narrative synthesis was performed. Results: Twenty trials met the inclusion criteria. Acute studies showed AEL enhanced explosive performance at 110–120% 1RM or with 10–30% body mass overload, though responses varied with load and timing. Chronic training yielded maximal strength gains of ~9–22% and jump height improvements of 4–11%, generally superior or comparable to TRT. However, transfer to sprint and COD performance was inconsistent. Certainty of evidence (GRADE) was moderate for strength but low to very low for speed outcomes. Conclusions: AEL effectively enhances lower-body strength and explosive performance, particularly at 110–120% 1RM or 10–30% body mass overload. However, transfer to speed remains uncertain. Due to high protocol heterogeneity and small sample sizes, findings should be interpreted with caution, necessitating standardized reporting in future research.
Keywords: Accentuated eccentric loading, eccentric-to-concentric ratio, Post-Activation Potentiation Enhancement, Resistance Training, strength–power
Received: 07 Oct 2025; Accepted: 11 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhong, Yu, Xiao and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hao Wu
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