To build up muscle? Don’t lift weights, lower them.

About the episode

We keep looking for it: the best way to stay healthy. Sport and muscle strength are important factors in this and new research shows that we may be able to build this muscle strength with much less effort.

Whether you train with weights at home or in the gym: most people opt for well-known basic exercises, such as raising and lowering a dumbbell, for example.

Previous research has already shown that lengthening or stretching tight muscles – this is called an eccentric contraction – has a positive effect on muscle growth. In this new study, they wanted to know: is it perhaps so good that rest is not so necessary?

They asked the subjects to train with weights twice a week for five weeks. One group did the familiar “up and down” movement, another group did only the lifting part with weight and a last group only the descending part.

Lifting alone had only a limited effect on muscle growth and strength. Raising and lowering and lowering only both showed equally strong effect, while one is only half of the movement.

The conclusion of the researchers: we could therefore do the same thing with half the effort. And they can do it at home. For example, quickly lifting your weight with two hands and lowering it slowly with one hand. According to the researchers, it is not even necessary to invest a lot of time in it: 3 seconds a day at maximum power would be enough for an effect.

The paper is here: Comparison of concentric-only, eccentric-only, and concentric-eccentric elbow flexor resistance training for their effects on muscle strength and hypertrophy.