Hey everyone!
I’ve broken my arm and I’m a keen gym enthusiast so
naturally I scoured the internet for some magical way that I could continue
gyming. Of course I can still do legs but that’s no fun and I originally thought it impossible to do any other upper
body exercises without ending up with a popeye arm on one side and a twig on
the other but guess what? I was wrong! For the past twenty years more and more
studies have investigated what is called ‘cross education,’ basically speaking you
work out one side while the other increases in strength. Is everyone amazed as
I am? I hope so because from now on your workouts will be cut in half! (Ok that's a lie but still it's amazing)
This phenomenon has been proven but hasn’t been
conclusively explained yet but there seems to be one theory which many have
used to explain it. This theory is that unilateral resistance training induces
adaptions within the motor areas that are namely involved in controlling the
movements of the trained limb. When one side is worked out the untrained limb
may access these modified neural circuits during voluntary contractions in ways
which are similar to motor learning. Basically speaking your brain tells your
untrained muscles that they should get stronger because the other side is, MIND
BLOWN!
Ok earlier I may have oversold this concept, strength increases
in the unworked side are only 5-25% while the other increases 25-35% and it
does not seem to effect the hypertrophy of the untrained side. Still it is
amazing to think that without doing anything the untrained side can get
stronger, it’s like a magic pill that makes you lose weight without eating any
better or working out!
This might happen but at least the small side will
get stronger!
You work out one side and the other doesn't fade away while getting stronger, guess I am doing more than just study until my arm heals.
Thanks for reading everyone,
Bye bye now
great way to workout with an injury! and the results seem pretty cool. hopefully your arm gets better soon :)
ReplyDeleteNot good about breaking you arm but good new that you still can workout at the gym, amazing what you can find out on the Internet
ReplyDeleteThat is a very impressive find. The yields are low but I totally agree that it is amazing, one side does the work yet both benefit.
ReplyDelete