Your body learns to handle hard eccentric exercises so well that after 10 weeks, it doesn’t even react as if it’s damaged—even though you’re still doing the same hard movements.
Scientific Claim
In untrained men, the physiological response to eccentric exercise evolves from a damaging to a non-damaging state within 10 weeks of weekly training, indicating a systemic adaptation to mechanical stress.
Original Statement
“After the first bout, eccentric exercise induced greater muscle damage... during the nine following sessions, this effect progressively diminished, while after the 10th week of training, no alterations in muscle damage biomarkers were observed...”
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 longitudinal, repeated-measures design with multiple biomarkers supports definitive description of the transition observed.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Eccentric exercise per se does not affect muscle damage biomarkers: early and late phase adaptations
At first, doing eccentric exercises hurt and damaged the men’s muscles, but after doing them once a week for 10 weeks, their bodies got used to it and stopped getting damaged — proving they adapted.