Eccentric muscle work on the right side allows you to work the same muscles on the left side, even if they are not used. It is an interesting alternative to work an injured and immobilized limb for example.
-1603903529.jpg "By strengthening one arm, the other also benefits from the beneficial effects")
- Even with one arm immobilized, the other arm is capable of building strength for both.
- In his experiment, a scientist demonstrates that muscle loss for an immobilized arm is less if eccentric exercises are performed with the other arm.
Can our strength move from one muscle to another, provided they are antagonistic? This is the question asked by researchers at Edith Cowan University (Australia). According to their conclusion, exercises done on one arm at a time are better for building muscle while minimizing muscle wasting, even on the arm that is not used. The study was published on September 8, 2020 in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
Work the muscles in eccentric
The interest of this research is essential for people who are unable to move both limbs at the same time during an exercise, in particular following an injury. This kind of exercise works in places where the muscle is working with its antagonist, that is, facing another muscle and working simultaneously. For example, when you lift a dumbbell to bring it to your shoulder, your biceps contracts but your triceps relaxes: this is concentric work. When you gently release this dumbbell towards the floor, your biceps relax and your triceps take over: it’s eccentric work.
For Ken Nosaka, a researcher at Edith Cowan University’s School of Medical Health Science, the results of muscle gain differ depending on the technique used.
To find out for sure, he asked thirty volunteers, divided into three groups, to keep their arms immobilized for eight hours a day for a month. With the other arm, they had to perform dumbbell lifts. The first subgroup only did eccentric exercises. The second subgroup had workouts combining eccentric and concentric exercises, while the last group (the test group), did absolutely nothing.
At the end of the experiment, the first group (who only did eccentric exercises) showed increased strength on the active arm and 2% muscle atrophy on the immobilized arm. In comparison, in the group that did not play sports, the loss of muscle volume on the immobilized arm is 28%.
Redefining muscle rehabilitation
“Participants who did eccentric exercises had the greatest increase in strength in both arms, so this has a very powerful cross-transfer effect.says Ken Nosaka. I think it could change the way we approach the rehabilitation of people who have temporarily lost the use of an arm or a leg. By immediately beginning rehabilitation and exercise in the uninjured limb, we can prevent exercise-induced muscle damage in the other limb and also build strength without straining it at all”he noted.
Before seeing a new way of working on muscle rehabilitation, Ken Nosaka wants to extend his research to other muscle groups that work with their antagonists. “In this study we focused on the elbow flexors because this muscle is often used as a model to examine the effects of immobilization on strength and size, and of course it is an important muscle for movement. arm, underlines the researcher, proud of his discovery. In the future, we hope to examine how eccentric exercise can help improve fine muscle motor function, movement and control, which is particularly important for stroke patients and for rehabilitation. ”
.
-1603903529.jpg&description=By+strengthening+one+arm%2C+the+other+also+benefits+from+the+beneficial+effects){kind=link}