New research indicates a little bit of daily activity is more beneficial than longer periods of exercise spread out across the week and happily, it also suggests you don’t have to put in a mountain of work every day. It’s a dilemma faced by many health-conscious people and new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) is answering the question. This latest research indicates a little bit of daily activity could well be the most beneficial approach, at least for muscle strength. And happily, it also suggests you don’t have to put in a mountain of work every day.

In collaboration with Niigata University and Nishi Kyushu University in Japan, the four-week training study had three groups of participants performing an arm resistance exercise and changes in muscle strength and muscle thickness were measured and compared. The exercise consisted of ‘maximal voluntary eccentric bicep contractions’ performed on a machine which measures muscle strength in each muscle contraction you would do at the gym. An eccentric contraction is when the muscle is lengthening; in this case, like lowering a heavy dumbbell in a bicep curl.

Two groups performed 30 contractions per week, with one group doing six contractions a day for five days a week (6×5 group), while the other crammed all 30 into a single day, once a week (30×1 group).

Another group only performed six contractions one day a week.

After four weeks, the group doing 30 contractions in a single day did not show any increase in muscle strength, although muscle thickness (an indicator of increase in muscle size) increased 5.8 per cent.

The group doing six contractions once a week did not show any changes in muscle strength and muscle thickness.

However, the 6×5 group saw significant increases in muscle strength — more than 10 per cent — with an increase in muscle thickness similar to the 30×1 group.

                Source: ANI