One type of exercise can help you 'gain strength without feeling as exhausted', new study reveals

Squats, press-ups, and downhill walking all use eccentric movement - basically the motion of lowering a limb or lengthening the muscle. For example, in a squat, it's the part where you bend your knees with your dumbbells or barbell.

In strength training, experts typically tell us to focus on the opposite motion (concentric exercise). Pushing up with the weight in a squat. A new study suggests that doing eccentric movement slowly with weight increases the force on the muscle, and can help you get stronger and build more muscle - without any more effort.

Sports scientist Professor Ken Nosaka, based at Edith Cowan University in Australia, believes eccentric exercise can be more beneficial than concentric or isometric (static muscle contractions, such as standing on one leg) exercise for people of all ages and abilities. “We should establish eccentric exercise as standard practice, and make it common, accessible, and widely accepted as the ‘new normal’ of exercise to improve life performance and high performance,” he writes in the Journal of Sport and Health Science.

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His study found that muscles generate more force during these movements, while using less energy than they would when lifting or pulling an object and walking upstairs. "You can gain strength without feeling as exhausted. So, you get more benefit for less effort. That makes eccentric exercise appealing for a wide range of people," he says.

If you exercise regularly or play sports such as tennis or badminton, eccentric exercises could help improve your speed, strength, power and change-of-direction performance, as well as reduce your risk of injury. “It induces unique neuromuscular and connective tissue adaptations that are particularly relevant for deceleration and force absorption tasks common in sports,” says the study.

However, the professor also highlights that this is a movement we do in daily life, from bending to pick something off the floor to walking down the stairs. It can help improve our longevity. "That makes [eccentric exercises] practical, realistic and easier to stick with," he says. "When exercise feels achievable, people keep doing it."

The study found that 90% of participants continued to exercise after the completed tasks.

Eccentric exercises for people who use weights in the gym include leg press, Romanian deadlift, push-ups, pull-ups, and dumbbell bench press. The key is to remember to do each rep slowly and with control.

Are there any downsides to eccentric exercise?

Of all the types of exercise you could do (concentric, eccentric, and isometric), you're more likely to get delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) after doing eccentric exercise. So you could be more sore in the days after your workout than normal.

But Professor Nosaka says these issues will ease within a few days. He says: “High intensity, high volume and fast velocity eccentric contractions performed at long muscle lengths induce the greatest damage.”

Our arm muscles are at more risk than our legs because they are less accustomed to eccentric loading through our daily activities.

Start with a small number of repetitions, low velocity and low intensity and then build up when your muscles are ready for more load and speed. As always, speak to a PT or physio before starting any new type of exercise.