With weight lifting there are different kinds of presses, that may be chest, shoulder, or leg presses, etc. You may think that the main part of the workout is with the pressing or contracting motion, but the fact is you can get just as much, maybe even more of a workout of the primary muscle when you are doing the lowering of the weight, or the eccentric contraction.
For example in the picture of me doing dumbbell chest presses, I am in the process of lowering the weight with retracting the shoulders. When I am at the point where I stop lowering the dumbells, I then contract the pectorals and frontal deltoids, which then extends the arms with assistance of the triceps. But doing this eccentric contraction slower is just as good at the pressing.
Or when barbell squats are done, the flexion of the knees or lowering of the weight with moving the hips back, is just as important as the pressing up, extending your legs. It is even better at times to execute the squat at a slower pace than the pushing up of the weight. It causes your quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteus maximus, lower back, and abdomen to work even harder.
And as you begin using different timing or changing the pace of repetitions, your muscles will not get used to the same pace done many times. This then causes the muscles to change by becoming stronger and feeling more of a workout.
Another example, when doing barbell shoulder or military presses. You would press up the barbell above your head, extending you arms in one count. And then lowering it back down in three counts. More muscles are worked during that process, especially if you are standing. Your back, chest, core, and legs have to operate then.
So keep training hard, but also keep aware of the timing of your movements!
