Good news for those who struggle to fit a gym workout into their day: you may be able to cut your weights routine in half and still see the same results.
New research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has shown one type of muscle contraction is most effective at increasing muscle strength and muscle size — and rather than lifting weights, the emphasis should be on lowering them.
The team, which also included researchers from Niigata University and Nishi Kyushu University in Japan and Brazil’s Londrina State University, had groups of people perform three different types of dumbbell curl exercise and measured the results.
It found those who only lowered a weight saw the same improvements as those who raised and lowered weights — despite only performing half the number of repetitions.
ECU’s Professor Ken Nosaka said the results reinforced previous research indicating a focus on “eccentric” muscle contractions — in which activated muscles are lengthened — is more important to increasing strength and size of muscles, rather than the volume.
“We already know only one eccentric muscle contraction a day can increase muscle strength if it is performed five days a week — even if it’s only three seconds a day — but concentric (lifting a weight) or isometric muscle contraction (holding a weight) does not provide such an effect,” Professor Nosaka said.
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