Lowering weights slowly wakes up muscle stem cells right after exercise, but lifting weights regularly over time builds up more of these cells permanently.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No supporting evidence found

Contradicting (1)

0

Community contributions welcome

1

Skeletal Muscle Remodeling in Response to Eccentric vs. Concentric Loading: Morphological, Molecular, and Metabolic Adaptations

Narrative Review

2017

The study looked at two types of weight training but didn’t measure or mention satellite cells at all, so we can’t say whether one type activates them more than the other.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Skeletal Muscle Remodeling in Response to Eccentric vs. Concentric Loading: Morphological, Molecular, and Metabolic Adaptations

Score: 1

DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2017.00447

Similar Assertions

When you lift weights or put extra stress on your muscles, tiny repair cells called satellite cells usually wake up and get busy—this helps your muscles grow bigger, but sometimes muscles can still grow even if these cells don’t activate.

1

0

80%

Some people get much stronger and build more muscle from weight training than others—this might be because their muscle cells grow more new nuclei, but not every study agrees on this.

1

0

75%

Doing exercises where you push the weight up (concentric) makes more muscle repair cells grow than doing exercises where you lower the weight slowly (eccentric), at least in young men training for 12 weeks.

37

0

72%