Where you hold your muscle workout changes how it grows
Differential changes in muscle architecture and neuromuscular fatigability induced by isometric resistance training at short and long muscle-tendon unit lengths.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
People did leg exercises holding their muscle stretched out vs. bunched up for 8 weeks. One way made muscle fibers longer; the other made them thicker and angled. Neither way made people much less tired, but the changes in muscle shape were linked to how tired they felt.
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
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Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 546 / 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.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
People did leg exercises holding their muscle stretched out vs. bunched up for 8 weeks. One way made muscle fibers longer; the other made them thicker and angled. Neither way made people much less tired, but the changes in muscle shape were linked to how tired they felt.
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 546 / 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
Akagi R, Hinks A, Power GA
Related Content
Claims (6)
Doing 8 weeks of strength training with your muscle either stretched or bunched up doesn’t make you much better at resisting fatigue — the improvement is very small and not clearly real.
Doing strength exercises with your muscle stretched out for 8 weeks can make the muscle fibers longer, but doing them with your muscle bunched up doesn’t change their length.
Doing strength exercises with your muscle bunched up for 8 weeks can make the muscle fibers angle more sharply, which might help them generate more force.
When people train with their muscles bunched up, the more their muscle fibers angle upward, the longer they can keep pushing hard before getting tired.
When people train with their muscles stretched out, the longer their muscle fibers get, the more quickly they tire out during repeated efforts.