When men who lift weights do a slow downward motion (4 seconds) on exercises like squats or bench presses, their muscles seem to get more damaged afterward than when they do faster or slower movements — and this shows up as higher levels of a certain protein in their blood.

If you slow down the lowering part of weightlifting, your muscles might get more damaged and your body might release more of the hormones that help build muscle—this is what the claim says about guys who lift weights.

After the second tough arm workout, blood markers of muscle damage tend to be lower, but the difference isn't strong enough to be sure it's real.

For guys who lift weights, doing the lowering part of a lift slowly (2 seconds) and the lifting part quickly (1 second) might boost certain hormones more than other lifting speeds.

Both heavy lifting with few reps and light lifting with many reps cause muscle damage, but neither does it more than the other.

After a tough leg workout, a blood marker of muscle damage (CK) spikes by more than 1.5 times and stays high for two days, showing the muscles are still healing.