Varying the type of muscle contraction with emphasis on lowering weight (eccentric phase) more effective on increasing muscle strength and size
Good news for those who have little time to go to the gym. According to a group of Japanese and Australian scientists, halving weight training times would lead to the same results in terms of muscle mass. But how possible? The key is in giving greater emphasis on the lowering phase of the weights (the negative phase) and not only to the lifting phase: in fact, varying the type of muscle contraction would bemost effective at increasing muscle strength and size.
Eccentric contractions
Scientists had volunteers perform three variations of the dumbbell curl and found that participants who performed the exercise emphasizing only the lowering the weight achieved the same improvements in muscle mass as those who lifted and lowered the weightdespite having performed the half the reps. The professor Ken Nosaka from Edith Cowan University in Australia stressed how the findings strengthened previous research and what to focus on eccentric muscle contractions (ie when a weight is lowered) is more important if the goal is to increase strength and muscle size. We already know that one eccentric muscle contraction per day can increase muscle strength when performed five days a week, even if it’s only three seconds per day, but concentric (i.e. lifting a weight) or isometric (holding a weight) muscle contraction has no effect. the same effect reported Professor Nosaka adding: This latest study shows that we can be much more efficient in the time we dedicate to training and still see significant results by focusing on eccentric muscle contractions. In the case of a dumbbell curl, for example, many believe that the act of lifting the weight provides the greatest benefit, but we have found that in realt le coConcentric muscle contractions contribute little to training effects.
How the study was carried out
The study divided into four groups of volunteers, three who performed dumbbell curls twice a week for five weeks and a fourth as a non-active control group. Of the three active groups, the first performed only eccentric muscle contractions (weight loss)the second performed concentric muscle contractions (weight lifting) and the third performed both concentric and eccentric muscle contractions (alternating weight lifting and lowering). All three groups achieved improvements in concentric strength, but the group of volunteers who only lifted the weight (concentric muscle contractions) achieved only this improvement. On the other hand, those who only lowered the weight (eccentric work) or performed both muscle contractions achieved improvements in both isometric (static) and eccentric strength. However, the researchers point out that although the eccentric exercise volunteers performed half the repetitions of those who lifted and lowered the weights, the benefits in terms of strength were similar, with even a greater increase in muscle thickness (7, 2% versus 5.4% of the concentric-eccentric group).
In practice
But how to put into practice what emerged in the study? The researchers suggest to use both arms to lift the dumbbell (concentric phase) and then only one arm to lower it (eccentric phase). The technique works when doing bicep curls, front raises, and handstands. You can proceed in the same way with the use of leg muscle machines (leg extensions, leg curls, calf raises). But it’s not necessarily necessary to go to the gym because the principles of this training can also be done from home: the important thing is that muscles lengthen gradually throughout the range of motion.
Beware of Doms (Delayed Onset Soreness)
Beware of delayed onset soreness, known as Doms, which peaks within 48 hours of completing sporting activity, especially activities for which you are unaccustomed feel Gianfranco Beltrami, vice president of the Italian Sports Medicine Federation. Delayed soreness usually occurs after strenuous exercise or an unaccustomed activity. It can happen after any type of exercise, but is much more common right after i eccentric movements precisely those in which the muscle works in the stretching phase. When we have the shopping bag in hand and place it on the ground, resisting it so that it doesn’t drag us to the ground, we are doing an eccentric job. Typical activities are walking down stairs or running downhill. There is no discipline that only develops eccentric activities, but there are single movements of the various sports activities explains Beltrami. The smaller muscles of the upper limbs (such as the biceps and shoulders) are typically more susceptible to soreness because they would be less accustomed to eccentric exercise.
November 16, 2022 (change November 16, 2022 | 09:10)
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