Surprisingly, right after doing these tough leg exercises with bands, the women got stronger over the next few days—not weaker, as you might expect.

After doing leg exercises with tight bands around the thighs, the muscles in the front of the thighs get temporarily puffy right after, but go back to normal by the next day.

Even though these exercises were hard, they didn’t hurt the muscles or cause the kind of soreness and damage you’d normally expect after intense workouts.

Even though the muscles got stronger, the way the nerves activated the muscles didn’t change at all during the recovery period.

Whether the women did 75 reps total or did four sets until they couldn’t do more, their muscles reacted the exact same way—no difference in swelling, strength, or nerve signals.

Even though the muscles got puffy right after exercise, there was no sign of muscle damage or inflammation in the ultrasound images for the next four days.