After a tough bicep workout, your muscles swell and show stress signs, but they bounce back fully by the next day — so these signs don’t tell you much about long-term growth.
Scientific Claim
In resistance-trained individuals, acute muscle swelling and echo-intensity responses to biceps curl training are transient, resolving to baseline within 24 hours, suggesting a rapid recovery capacity that may limit the utility of these markers for tracking long-term adaptation.
Original Statement
“The muscle swelling returned to baseline 24 h post similarly across conditions... The EI returned to baseline 24 h post similarly across conditions.”
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
definitive
Can make definitive causal claims
Assessment Explanation
The longitudinal measurement design supports a definitive descriptive claim about recovery kinetics in trained individuals.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
The study checked how much the biceps swelled and changed in texture after arm curls and found that these changes went back to normal within 24 hours, meaning they’re not useful for tracking long-term muscle growth.