“Although the mechanisms underpinning eccentric contraction’s potent effects are not clear yet, the fact that only a three-second maximal eccentric contraction a day improves muscle strength in a relatively short period is important for health and fitness,” Nosaka says. The news release notes that the eccentric group’s overall muscle strength improved 11.5 percent after – wait for it – 60 seconds of effort in total. “Performing one 3-second MVC a day increased muscle strength, but eccentric MVC produced more potent effects than isometric or concentric MVC,” the authors write. Yet it was the eccentric group that got the best results across all three measurements: concentric increased 12.8 percent, isometric 10.2 percent and eccentric 12.2 percent. The concentric lifting group, the news release says, “improved slightly (6.3 percent) in isometric strength” but saw no improvement elsewhere, while the isometric group “only saw an increase in eccentric strength (7.2 percent).” The researchers measured the exercising groups (39 students in total) for their concentric, isometric and eccentric strength after 20 days of exercise was concluded. They lowered their dominant arms from a folded position towards the ground, “lengthening” the muscle.Īccording to the authors, all three lifting methods showed improvement to muscle strength, but eccentric contraction by far ended up delivering the best results. The third group of 13 students were asked to perform eccentric bicep curls. These students bent and raised their dominant arms with the weight, “shortening” the muscle. The second group of study participants were asked to perform concentric bicep curls. That means the muscle is “stationary under load,” in which case the dumbbell held by their dominant arm is parallel to the ground at 90 degrees to the body, with the elbow bent. One group of study participants were asked to perform isometric bicep curls. They refer to the same upper arm muscle (biceps) being used, but doing different things. The study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, examined three types of bicep curls: isometric, concentric and eccentric. Short, good quality exercise can still be good for your body and every muscle contraction counts.” “Many people think you have to spend a lot of time exercising, but it’s not the case. “The study results suggest that a very small amount of exercise stimulus – even 60 seconds in four weeks – can increase muscle strength,” he says. Lead researcher Professor Ken Nosaka from ECU’s School of Medicinal and Health Sciences points out that people don’t need to exercise for hours to show benefits to their muscle strength. “Muscle strength increased more than 10 per cent for the group who performed the eccentric bicep curl after the four weeks,” the news release notes, “but less increase in muscle strength was found for the other two exercise groups.” However, surprisingly, the other groups improved, even though they ‘exercised’ three seconds a day. “The control group,” the researchers write, “showed no changes,” as was expected. They were told not to participate in any exercise outside of the study. All groups’ muscles were measured at the start of the four weeks, and after. The control group remained, well, sedentary. They did this for five days a week (Monday to Friday), for four weeks. The three training groups exerted themselves to the maximum amount (MVC-maximal voluntary contraction) for three - three!– seconds at a time. The other students were divided into groups of 13 and performed bicep curls (isometric for one, concentric for another, and eccentric for the last). One group, of 10 students, did not do any exercise at all. Researchers from Japan and Australia recruited 49 healthy students (“young sedentary individuals… 35 male and 14 female”) and divided them into four groups. You don’t have an excuse to be a couch potato anymore, a new study, from Niigata University of Health and Welfare (NUHW) in Japan and Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia, suggests.
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