Dorian Yates is still dropping bodybuilding wisdom in retirement. In his latest venture, shared on April 16, 2025, he broke down his approach to negatives in training to overload the body and maximize results.
Less is more has always been Yates’ approach to training. He picked up this philosophy from bodybuilding veteran Mike Mentzer and Nautilus machine founder Arthur Jones. Together, they advocated for failure-based workouts instead of zeroing in on a specific number of repetitions or sets.
While it’s been decades since “The Shadow’ shook up the sport, his methods have stood the test of time, with many elite bodybuilders adopting similar strategies. Details as minor as how long to hold a repetition when lowering the weight can factor into the bigger picture in a way some fans have yet to realize. Below, Yates detailed how to approach the negative aspect or the eccentric phase in lifting to build muscle.
Dorian Yates Breaks Down His Approach to Negatives in Training: ‘Slow Down the Reps’
In a recent YouTube video, Yates shared that to get an adequate reaction from the body, it’s best to overload it with slower negatives.
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“As far as the negative goes, in order to get a reaction from your body, you’ve got to overload it. You’ve got to give it something it’s not used to in order for it to react.
A lot of people concentrate very much, let’s say on the positive, you know, a bench press, it would be pushing, that would be a positive, and then bringing the weight down, that’s the negative part of the rep.”
He specified that even if lifters go to failure on the positive or concentric phase, they can still sometimes reap additional benefits with the negative.
“But a lot of people don’t concentrate on that, they concentrate okay, I’ve got the weight up, and bring it down, and you have different levels of strength. Actually, the positive is the weakest part of the movement. So, you could fail on the positive part of the movement but there would still be strength left in the negative.”
For Yates, he prefers to slow down the negative, which is effective for maximizing time under tension.
“So in order to tax the negative, I tell people to slow the reps down on the negative phase, so that you’re taxing the negative part. If possible, sometimes, mainly with machine movements where it’s safe, you can do some extra negatives at the end of a set,” he shared.
The former six-time Mr. Olympia winner has highlighted the value of negative reps before. He recently walked through his leg-building approach with hamstrings curls and said he found the most success by slowing down the negative on each repetition.
At 62 years old, Yates has the accolades and longevity to back up his training claims. He believes that utilizing slower negatives in weight training could fast-track gains when executed properly.
RELATED: Dorian Yates Gives Tip For Mastering The Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Watch the full video from the Dorian Yates Nutrition YouTube channel below:
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