Chronic eccentric exercise: improvements in muscle strength can occur with little demand for oxygen
1 Design Physiology and Functional Morphology Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-5640; and 2 Department of Anatomy, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland Eccentric contractions, the lengthening of muscle while producing force, ar...
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Published in | American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology Vol. 276; no. 2; pp. 611 - R615 |
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Main Authors | , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
01.02.1999
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | 1 Design Physiology and Functional Morphology
Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona
University, Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-5640; and
2 Department of Anatomy, University of Bern,
CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Eccentric contractions, the lengthening of
muscle while producing force, are a common part of our everyday
movements. This study presents a challenge to the accepted notion that
eccentric work causes obligatory muscle injury while demonstrating that an increase in muscle strength, via eccentric work, can occur with
little demand for oxygen. Nine healthy subjects, ages 18-34, were
randomly placed in either an eccentric or a concentric training group.
Both groups trained for 6 wk while progressively increasing training
frequency and duration. Significant gains in isometric leg strength
were seen in the eccentrically trained subjects only. While training,
the oxygen consumption required to do the eccentric work was equal to
or less than that required to do the concentric work. The results
demonstrate that by progressively increasing the eccentric work rate,
significant isometric strength gains can be made without muscle
injury and with minimal increase in metabolic demand for oxygen. The
potential clinical implications of an eccentric training program that
uncouples skeletal muscle strength improvements from the demand for
oxygen are alluring.
concentric exercise; oxygen consumption; strength
training |
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ISSN: | 0363-6119 0002-9513 1522-1490 2163-5773 |
DOI: | 10.1152/ajpregu.1999.276.2.R611 |