New Study Shows Three-Second Workouts Can Strengthen Arm Muscles
Bicep curls may not be the most effective way to strengthen your arm muscles, according to a recent study. Researchers from Edith Cowan University in Australia, in collaboration with institutions in Japan, have found that a three-second workout performed three times a week can achieve impressive results.
The study, although small in scale, supports previous findings that eccentric, muscle-lengthening exercises are more efficient at strengthening bands of fibrous tissue compared to concentric, muscle-shortening actions. This means that exercises focusing on lengthening the muscles may be more beneficial for muscle conditioning.
During the experiment, 26 young and healthy adults were divided into two groups. One group performed three-second workouts of bicep extensions twice a week, while the other group performed the same exercises three times a week. After four weeks, researchers compared the forces delivered by their elbow flexors and the muscle thickness of their biceps brachii and brachialis.
The results showed that participants in the eccentric training group, who performed the three-second workouts three times a week, saw an 11.5 percent improvement in muscle strength after just one minute of accumulative exercise spread across four weeks. On the other hand, those who worked out twice a week showed no significant improvements.
Exercise and sports scientist Ken Kazunori Nosaka stated, “We haven’t investigated other muscles yet, but if we find the three-second rule also applies to other muscles, then you might be able to do a whole-body exercise in less than 30 seconds.”
It is important to note that these short workouts mainly focus on muscle strengthening and may not improve cardiovascular fitness. However, the study suggests that these three-second bouts of eccentric bicep contractions can produce impressive physical results with as few as three workouts a week.
More research needs to be done to fully understand the mechanisms behind the effectiveness of these super-short workouts. However, the researchers speculate that the frequency of the workout may play a crucial role in allowing the muscles to recover more easily, resulting in greater strength gains.
“It is important to note that even a very small amount of exercise can make a difference to our body, if it is performed regularly,” says Nosaka.
The study was published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.