Weight training or resistance training is known to have many benefits, including building muscle, burning body fat, strengthening bones and joints, reducing risk of injury, and improving heart health. A new study from Edith Cowan University (ECU) found that lifting weights for just three seconds a day can have a positive impact on muscle strength.
The study titled “Effect of daily 3-s maximal voluntary eccentric, concentric, or isometric contraction on elbow flexor strength” was published in the “Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.”
A collaboration with researchers at Niigata University of Health and Welfare (NUHW) in Japan had 39 healthy college students perform a maximal-effort muscle contraction for three seconds a day, five days a week for four weeks.
Participants performed an isometric, concentric, or eccentric biceps curl (see definitions below) at maximal effort, while the researchers measured the maximal voluntary contraction force of the muscles before and after the four-week period.
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Another 13 students did not exercise during the same period and were also measured before and after the four weeks.
Muscle strength increased more than 10 percent for the eccentric biceps curl group after four weeks, but a smaller increase in muscle strength was found for the other two exercise groups.
The non-exercise group saw no increase.
Lead researcher Professor Ken Nosaka, from ECU’s School of Health and Medical Sciences, said the results showed that people did not need to spend a lot of time exercising to improve their muscle strength.
“The results of the study suggest that a very small amount of exercise stimulus, even 60 seconds in four weeks, can increase muscle strength,” he said.
“A lot of people think you have to spend a lot of time exercising, but you don’t. Short, good-quality exercise can be good for your body, and every muscle contraction counts.”
These three classifications relate to what the muscle does when activated.
An isometric contraction is when the muscle is stationary under load, concentric when the muscle shortens, and eccentric when the muscle lengthens.
For a bicep curl, hold a dumbbell with one arm at your side, before lifting the weight to your chest, then lowering it back through your elbow.
Lifting the weight sees the biceps in concentric contraction, lowering the weight sees it in eccentric contraction, while keeping the weight parallel to the ground is isometric.
The study showed that all three lifting methods had some benefit for muscle strength, however, the eccentric contraction easily produced the best results.
The researchers measured the concentric, isometric, and eccentric strength of each group.
The concentric lifting group improved slightly (6.3 percent) in isometric strength but saw no improvement anywhere else, while the isometric group only saw an increase in eccentric strength (7.2 percent).
However, the eccentric group saw significant improvements in strength on all three measures: concentric increased by 12.8%, isometric by 10.2%, and eccentric by 12.2%.
The eccentric group’s overall muscle strength improved 11.5 percent after 60 seconds of total effort.
“Although the mechanisms underpinning the potent effects of eccentric contraction remain unclear, the fact that just one maximal eccentric contraction of three seconds per day improves muscle strength in a relatively short period is important for health and fitness. said Professor Nosaka.
Professor Nosaka said the findings were exciting for promoting health and fitness, such as the prevention of sarcopenia, a decline in muscle mass and strength with age.
“We haven’t investigated other muscles yet, but if we find that the three-second rule applies to other muscles as well, then you could do a full-body exercise in less than 30 seconds,” he said.
“Plus, doing just one maximal contraction per day means you don’t get sore afterward,” he concluded.
Professor Nosaka and Dr. Masatoshi Nakamura of NUHW designed the study, and the data was collected by Dr. Nakamura and his Ph.D. and Masters students.
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