Analysis Version
v1
History
Back to Study: Eccentric exercise per se does not affect muscle d...
mechanistic
Analysis v1
58
Pro
0
Against

You don’t need to tear your muscles to make them stronger—your nervous system and muscle fibers can adapt and grow without damage.

Scientific Claim

The absence of muscle damage biomarkers after repeated eccentric exercise does not impair the development of muscle strength, suggesting that neural and structural adaptations can occur independently of tissue disruption.

Original Statement

“Exercise-induced muscle damage is not a prerequisite for increased muscle strength.”

From study:Eccentric exercise per se does not affect muscle damage biomarkers: early and late phase adaptations

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 RCT design directly compares strength outcomes with biomarker absence, providing strong causal evidence for this mechanistic claim.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

58
58

Eccentric exercise per se does not affect muscle damage biomarkers: early and late phase adaptations

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2021 Feb

Even when muscles stopped getting damaged from repeated eccentric exercise, people still got stronger — meaning you don’t need sore or torn muscles to build strength.

Contradicting (0)

0
No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

Eccentric exercise per se does not affect muscle damage biomarkers: early and late phase adaptations

Score: 58
DOI: 10.1007/s00421-020-04528-w

Similar Assertions

It’s not that slow lowering of weights damages muscles—it’s that your muscles aren’t used to it. Once they get used to it, no damage happens, even if you do the same move hard.

58
0
85%

It’s not the slow lowering that hurts—it’s that your muscles have never done it before. Once they’ve done it a few times, even doing it hard doesn’t hurt anymore.

58
0
84%

You don’t need to feel sore or have high blood markers to get stronger—your muscles can adapt and grow without damage.

58
0
80%

The first time you do hard eccentric exercises—like slowly lowering a heavy weight—your muscles get way more sore and damaged than if you just push the weight up.

0
58
79%

If you do hard eccentric exercises like lowering weights slowly once a week for 10 weeks, your muscles stop getting sore and damaged—even though the exercise is tough—because they get used to it.

58
0
79%