Untrained people who use momentum while doing biceps curls and triceps pushdowns can lift more total weight over eight weeks than those who use strict form, but both methods lead to similar muscle...

Pro

Against

Mechanism

Synthesis from 1 study

How it works

Swinging weights lets you lift more total weight because momentum helps carry the load through the hard parts, so you can do more reps. But your muscles don’t grow any bigger because the actual strain on them during the strongest part of each rep is about the same as when you lift slowly and...

Most probable mechanism

In Simple Terms

When people swing weights during arm exercises, they can lift heavier loads more times because the motion uses momentum to carry the weight through parts of the movement where muscles would normally struggle. This lets them do more total work, but the muscles don’t grow any bigger because the actual tension on the muscle fibers during the hardest parts of each rep stays similar to when lifting slowly and strictly.

Causal chain

External momentum reduces the demand on muscular force production during the eccentric and transition phases of movement, allowing greater total mass to be moved through the full range of motion.

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Total mechanical work increases due to higher volume load (weight × repetitions × sets), but the peak muscle-tendon unit tension during the concentric phase remains comparable to strict form.

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Muscle protein synthesis and hypertrophic signaling pathways are activated to a similar degree under both conditions because the intensity of mechanical tension during the force-producing phase is not significantly different.

Supported by evidence

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Community contributions welcome

Do Cheaters Prosper? Effect of Externally Supplied Momentum During Resistance Training on Measures of Upper Body Muscle Hypertrophy

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2025

Contradicting (0)

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

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

Do Cheaters Prosper? Effect of Externally Supplied Momentum During Resistance Training on Measures of Upper Body Muscle Hypertrophy

Score: 79

DOI: 10.70252/GDBL2230

Merged Assertions

The following assertions have been merged into this one because they express the same claim:

When performing biceps curls and triceps pushdowns with external momentum, untrained individuals achieve approximately 70.9% greater total volume load than with strict form over eight weeks, indicating that momentum allows for higher mechanical work output despite similar hypertrophic outcomes.

NaN% similar

Similar Assertions

People new to weight training can lift more total weight per week by using momentum during biceps curls and triceps pushdowns than by using strict form, but this does not result in greater muscle growth.

98%

Over eight weeks, beginners who do biceps curls and triceps pushdowns with either strict technique or using momentum both experience measurable increases in muscle size.

86%

Over eight weeks, people new to weight training can build muscle in their biceps and triceps by doing exercises with either strict technique or controlled momentum, as long as they push to the point of muscular fatigue.

85%

In young adults doing arm exercises for eight weeks, using momentum to lift weights does not result in more muscle growth than lifting with strict form, even though more total weight is moved with momentum, suggesting that how tension is distributed across the muscle may offset the reduced focus on individual muscles.

85%

In young adults doing arm exercises for eight weeks, using momentum to lift weights does not lead to more or less muscle growth in the biceps and triceps than lifting with strict form, even though more total weight is moved when using momentum.

84%