Strengthen Muscles With “Explosive” Contractions

According to new work from the UK, explosive contractions lasting less than one second trump sustained contractions lasting three seconds when it comes to increasing strength and the functional capacity of muscles. According to the June 6, 2015 news release, “The study, led by Jonathan Folland, Ph.D., Reader in Human Performance and Neuromuscular Physiology at Loughborough University, is the first to directly compare short, explosive contractions lasting less than one second with sustained contractions lasting three seconds.”

“The results showed that explosive contractions are an easier and less tiring way of increasing strength and functional capacity of the muscles, and therefore a highly efficient method of training. The method increases strength by assisting the nervous system in ‘switching on’ and activating the trained muscles. In comparison, the more traditional sustained contractions—which demand a lot of effort and soon become tiring—are actually a more effective way of increasing muscle mass. Increasing muscle mass may be the main training goal for some people, including athletes in some sports, for aesthetic reasons or metabolic health.”

Dr. Folland, from Loughborough University’s School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, said: “The easiest way to make muscles stronger has been debated by fitness and sports professionals for many years, but this study shows that it doesn’t have to mean lots of pain for any gain. Whereas traditional strength training is made up of slow, grinding contractions using heavy weights which is quite hard work, this study shows that short, sharp contractions are relatively easy to perform and a very beneficial way of building up strength. These short, explosive contractions may also be beneficial to older individuals and patient groups such as those with osteoarthritis, who would benefit from getting stronger, but are reluctant to undergo tiring sustained contractions.”

Dr. Folland told OTW, “Whilst we didn’t look specifically at the post surgery situation in our study, we know that post-surgery patients often suffer from muscle weakness and strengthening exercises are an important part of their rehabilitation. We found that short, explosive contractions are highly effective at increasing strength (and particularly the ability of the nervous system to activate the muscles). These explosive types of contractions are relatively easy to do compared to more traditional strengthening contractions, which are quite hard, slow ‘grinding’ and thus tiring. Therefore explosive contractions may be more tolerable and easy for patients undergoing rehabilitation. Although future research is needed to apply explosive contractions to these groups.”