One workout’s swelling doesn’t tell you what swelling looks like after months of training.
Scientific Claim
Acute muscle swelling responses following a single resistance training session are not representative of swelling responses observed after prolonged, repeated training programs.
Original Statement
“The question is, how confident are we that swelling observed in studies measuring it after just one workout are representative of the swelling that's seen after training for weeks on end?”
Context Details
Domain
exercise
Population
human
Subject
acute muscle swelling after a single resistance training session
Action
is not representative of
Target
swelling responses observed after prolonged, repeated training programs
Intervention Details
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Reduced muscle lengthening during eccentric contractions as a mechanism underpinning the repeated-bout effect.
After doing heavy arm exercises once, your muscles swell and stretch a lot, but after doing them again weeks later, they don’t swell or stretch as much because they’ve gotten used to it — so the first time’s reaction isn’t what happens long-term.
Contradicting (1)
This study looked at how muscles swell right after one workout, but didn't track people over weeks or months, so we can't tell if one-time swelling is like long-term swelling.