“People think they have to do resistance training in the gym, but that’s not the case,” said Ken Nosaka, Professor of Exercise and Sports Science from Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Australia. “Just lowering a heavy dumbbell slowly once or six times a day is enough,” says Nosaka.
The team from ECU teamed up with Niigata University and Nishi Kyushu University in Japan to conduct a four-week training study in which three groups of participants performed anti-arm and swing exercises. muscular strength. Their muscle thickness was measured and compared.
This exercise consists of ‘maximum voluntary eccentric calf muscle contractions’ performed on a machine, measuring muscle strength during each muscle contraction you perform at the gym. Eccentric contraction is when the muscle is lengthening; in this case, it’s like lowering a heavy dumbbell in a crunch.
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Two groups performed 30 contractions per week, with one group performing six contractions per day for five days a week (6×5 groups), while the other group crammed all 30 times into a single day, each week. once (group of 30×1). Another group performed only six contractions a day a week.
After four weeks, the group that performed 30 contractions in a day showed no increase in muscle strength, although muscle thickness (an indicator of an increase in muscle size) increased by 5.8 percent.
The group that performed six contractions once a week did not show any change in muscle strength and thickness.
However, the 6×5 group saw a significant increase in muscle strength – more than 10% – with the same increase in muscle thickness as the 30×1 group. “Muscle strength is important to our health. This can help prevent the decline in muscle mass and strength due to aging,” says Nosaka.
“The loss of muscle mass is the cause of many chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, dementia, plus musculoskeletal problems like osteoporosis,” says Nosaka. “.
What’s more, Nosaka says more emphasis needs to be placed on the importance of making exercise a daily activity, rather than hitting a weekly goal.
“If you only go to the gym once a week, it won’t be as effective as exercising every day at home,” he says. “This study, along with our previous work, shows the importance of accumulating a small amount of exercise each week, rather than just spending hours exercising once a week,” Nosaka said. idea.
Source: IANS
