FILE - Image of study participant during testing. Participants were asked to do three different types of arm workouts which included isometric, concentric or eccentric bicep curls.Isometric means the arm sits stationary, with basically no movement.
A concentric movement is a traditional bicep curl, and an eccentric movement is when you extend the arm after a bicep curl.Participants were placed in a specialized chair and did one of the three exercises for three seconds with maximum effort, which varied for each person."The improvement was shown by eccentric contraction, so the dumbbell.
Which is a very nice way to improve strength," according to Prof. Ken Kazunori Nosaka, lead author and director of exercise and sports science at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.
The other two groups who performed the isometric and concentric movements saw some improvement but not nearly as much as the eccentric group.The group who performed the eccentric movements showed about a 12% increase in muscle strength, according to Nosaka."It’s a very minimal stimulus to the muscle but still worked," Nosaka explained.For instance, in the study, participants were asked to basically lower a dumbbell at a maximum weight they could handle without losing form.