Does hurting your muscles on purpose help them stay strong when you can’t move?
Muscle damaging eccentric exercise attenuates disuse-induced declines in daily myofibrillar protein synthesis and transiently prevents muscle atrophy in healthy men
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists tested if doing super-hard leg exercises before not moving for a week helps keep muscles from shrinking.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
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Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Scientists tested if doing super-hard leg exercises before not moving for a week helps keep muscles from shrinking.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 559 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Jameson TSO, Kilroe SP, Fulford J, Abdelrahman DR, Murton AJ, Dirks ML, Stephens FB, Wall BT
Related Content
Claims (6)
If young, healthy guys do certain tough leg exercises before keeping one leg still, they might avoid losing muscle in that leg during the first couple of days of not using it.
If young, healthy guys do certain muscle-damaging exercises before their leg is immobilized, their muscles might waste away less—even if their muscle-building activity goes down. Without those exercises, lower muscle-building activity means more muscle loss.
If young, healthy guys do a tough leg workout right before having one leg immobilized for a week, their muscles in that leg keep building protein faster for the first couple of days compared to if they didn’t exercise first.
If young, healthy guys do certain muscle-lengthening exercises before having one leg kept still for a week, their muscles don’t slow down making new proteins as much as those who don’t exercise — which might help prevent muscle loss.
If young, healthy guys do certain muscle exercises before having one leg kept still for a week, it doesn’t really help keep the muscle from shrinking — both those who did the exercises and those who didn’t lost about the same amount of muscle.