Exercising for just three seconds three times a week improves muscle strength
The authors of a new study have revealed how much you need to exercise per week to see real results.Previously, the authors of a new study found that exercising just 3-5 seconds a day 5 days a week improved muscle strength. Now they have conducted another experiment to find out the minimum number of days in which you should do three-second exercises.
In 2022, researchers from Australia's Edith Cowan University, in collaboration with Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Japan, found that specific biceps contractions of just 3 seconds a day for 5 days a week significantly improved muscle strength.
In the new study, participants performed one three-second eccentric biceps contraction at maximum effort. It is analogous to slowly lowering a heavy dumbbell with a bent arm until it is straight.
Subjects were divided into two groups. The first performed one three-second contraction 2 days a week, and the other performed the same exercise 3 days a week.
After 4 weeks, the researchers compared the participants' biceps strength.
Those who performed the exercises 2 days a week showed no significant changes. But in the "3-day group," the researchers noted a small but significant increase in concentric strength (2.5%) and eccentric strength (3.9%).
Ken Nosaka, the study's lead professor, said the results helped improve understanding of how the body responds to exercise and how people can put that knowledge to good use.