Study: Exercising For Three Seconds A Day Is Beneficial For Health

Most people indulge into heavy forms of exercise to stay fit and avail other health benefits of a workout routine. What if even three seconds of exercise were enough? Well, it is amazing to think about that, isn't it? Weight training, muscle and strength sessions, etc, each form of exercise provides a wide range of  benefits including burning body fat, good heart health among others. As per a new study, exercising for even three seconds a day is beneficial for your health. Read the article further to know more.

According to a recent study from Edith Cowan University (ECU), it was found that lifting weights for as little as three seconds a day can have a positive impact on muscle strength. The study is called 'Effect of daily 3-s maximum voluntary isometric, concentric or eccentric contraction on elbow flexor strength' and it was published in the 'Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports'. It is basically collaboration with researchers from Niigata University of Health and Welfare (NUHW) in Japan. For the research, 39 healthy university students did one muscle contraction with maximum strength for three in a day, for five days a week for four weeks.

Also read: Check Out The 9 Amazing Benefits Of Regular Exercise

The student participants performed either an isometric, concentric or eccentric bicep curl with maximum effort. The researchers measured muscles' maximum voluntary contraction strength before and after the testing time period. Another group of 13 students performed no exercise in the same time period and were also measured before and after the four weeks. Muscle strength increased more than 10 percent in the participants who performed the eccentric bicep curl after four weeks, but there was lesser increase in muscle strength in the other two exercise groups.

The no exercise group saw absolutely zero increase. The lead researcher Professor Ken Nosaka from ECU's School of Medical and Health Sciences said that the results proved people don't have to spend much time in exercising to enhance their muscle strength. "The study results suggest that a very small amount of exercise stimulus - even 60 seconds in four weeks - can increase muscle strength, he said. Her further added saying, "Many people think you have to spend a lot of time exercising, but it's not the case. Short, good quality exercise can still be good for your body and every muscle contraction counts."

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