Fight negative energy with reverse movements in the power rack.
“Reverse” movements eliminate the built-up negative energy that makes the positive (concentric) contraction easier to perform. What does that mean? Take a normal squat. You begin by unracking the weight, then slowly lower your body as if sitting in a chair before exploding upward to a standing position.
During that downward phase, you build up negative energy—also called “the stretch-shorten cycle” in more technical terms—which helps you powerfully press out of the bottom of the squat. If you remove that energy and begin each rep from the bottom, you start from a dead stop. (That’s where the name deadlift comes from, by the way; the deadlift is a prime example of a pure reverse movement.)
