Do you want to gain muscle? Try lowering the weights instead of lifting them.

After some slang terms like “ironing” and “no pain no gain” were deftly scrapped from the lexicon of bodybuilding gyms, a new survey now conducted by Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Peth, Australia, concluded: Is it possible to halve your daily workload with weightlifting while maintaining results?🇧🇷

Welcomed by anyone who finds it difficult to fit gym workouts into their daily routine, the new study has shown that one type of muscle contraction is more effective at increasing both muscle strength and size. For this, During resistance training, the emphasis should be on lowering the weights.instead of raising them, says the study.

To prove their hypothesis, the team, which included researchers from the Japanese universities of Niigata and Nishi and the University of Londrina in Paraná, performed three different types of barbell curling exercises with a barbell. It was seen that those who lowered only one weight gave the same result as those who lifted and lowered weights, even after performing only half the number of repetitions🇧🇷

How to apply the results of the study and simplify the exercises?

According to Ken Kazunori Nosaka, a professor at the ECU and one of the study’s authors, the results supported previous research showing that it was the most important factor for increasing muscle strength and size. focusing on “eccentric” muscle contractions, i.e. the muscles in which the active muscles are stretched.

“We already know that just one eccentric muscle contraction a day can increase muscle strength when done five days a week – even if it’s only three seconds a day – but concentric muscle contraction [levantar um peso] or isometric [segurar um peso] it doesn’t have that effect,” says Nosaka.

Applying the same principles as eccentric focus training (minimum effort to return to concentric position), Nosaka has developed a few simple exercises to do at home. “With the small amount of daily exercise needed to see results, people don’t necessarily need to hit the gym — they can incorporate eccentric exercises into their daily routine,” Nosaka reassures.

ARTICLE European Journal of Applied Physiology – DOI: 10.1007/s00421-022-05035-w.