A new study says that three seconds a day of resistance exercise could increase your muscle strength. The study from Edith Cowan University in Australia in collaboration with institutions in Japan says that eccentric, muscle-lengthening exercises can strengthen bands of fibrous tissue more efficiently than concentric, muscle-shortening actions.
For the study, a team of scientists asked 26 young volunteers to do three-second bicep contractions either two or three days a week for four weeks. After four weeks, the arms of those exercising twice a week showed no change, but the three-times-a-week group got stronger. The study said that participants improved their muscle strength by 11.5 per cent.
"We haven't investigated other muscles yet, but if we find the three-second rule also applies to other muscles then you might be able to do a whole-body exercise in less than 30 seconds," said exercise and sports scientist Ken Kazunori Nosaka in 2022 according to Science Alert.
The scientists specified that these short workouts probably won't improve cardiovascular fitness, just muscle strength.
The study emphasised that three-second bouts of eccentric bicep contractions can achieve impressive physical results.
The young participants saw a 2.5 per cent increase in concentric strength and a 3.9 per cent increase in eccentric strength.
"Our previous work has shown regular, shorter exercise is more beneficial than one or two big training sessions in a week," Professor Nosaka said.
Professor Nosaka added, "Muscle adaptations occur when we are resting, so muscles need rest to improve their strength and muscle mass. It should be noted that the exercise was only three seconds, so the rest between exercises in the study was close to 28,800 times more than the exercise time. But muscles do appear to like to be stimulated more frequently, especially for the small volume of muscle strengthening exercise."
Professor Nosaka said that for some people 20 minutes of exercise a day is not possible and stated that even just five minutes a day can make a difference. He said that more studies need to confirm this but a recent study shows the importance of accumulating a small amount of exercise in your routine.
He further said that super-short workouts are more effective than big workouts because they allow the muscle to recover more easily.
