Is it Best to Exercise a Bit Daily or a Lot a Few Times a Week

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Definition

Exercise

Exercise is a specific bodily activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. Exercise is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, to develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, to hone athletic skills, weight loss or maintenance, to improve health, or simply for enjoyment.

Physical exercises are generally grouped into three types, depending on the overall effect they have on the human body:

• Flexibility exercises stretch and lengthen muscles. Activities such as stretching help to improve joint flexibility and keep muscles limber.
• Aerobic exercise is any physical activity that uses large muscle groups and causes the body to use more oxygen than it would while resting.
• Anaerobic exercise, which includes strength and resistance training, can firm, strengthen, and increase muscle mass, as well as improve bone density, balance, and coordination.

Main Digest

Greater effects by performing a small number of eccentric contractions daily than a larger number of them once a week.

Should I exercise a little bit every day, or exercise for longer once a week? It's a dilemma faced by many health-conscious people - and new research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) is answering the question.

Exercising is important, but is it better to do a little every day, or a lot a few times a week? New Edith Cowan University research indicates one is far more beneficial than the other. This latest research indicates that a little bit of daily activity could be the most beneficial approach for muscle strength. And happily, it also suggests you don't have to put in a mountain of work every day.

In collaboration with Niigata University and Nishi Kyushu University in Japan, the four-week training study had three groups of participants performing an arm resistance exercise. Changes in muscle strength and muscle thickness were measured and compared.

The exercise consisted of 'maximal voluntary eccentric bicep contractions' performed on a machine that measures muscle strength in each muscle contraction you would do at the gym. An eccentric contraction is when the muscle is lengthening, in this case, like lowering a heavy dumbbell in a bicep curl.

Two groups performed 30 contractions per week, with one group doing six contractions a day for five days a week (6x5 group), while the other crammed all 30 into a single day, once a week (30x1 group).

Another group only performed six contractions one day a week.

After four weeks, the group doing 30 contractions in a single day did not show any increase in muscle strength, although muscle thickness (an indicator of an increase in muscle size) increased by 5.8 percent.

The group doing six contractions once a week did not show any changes in muscle strength and muscle thickness.

However, the 6x5 group saw significant increases in muscle strength - more than 10 percent - with an increase in muscle thickness similar to the 30x1 group.

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Frequency, not Volume

Importantly, the increase in muscle strength of the 6x5 group was similar to the group in a previous study that performed only one three-second maximal eccentric contraction per day five days a week for four weeks.

ECU Exercise and Sports Science Professor Ken Nosaka said these studies continue to suggest very manageable amounts of exercise done regularly can have a real effect on people's strength.

"People think they have to do a longer session of resistance training in the gym, but that's not the case," he said.

"Just lowering a heavy dumbbell slowly once or six times a day is enough."

Professor Nosaka said while the study required participants to exert maximum effort, early findings from current, ongoing research indicated similar results could be achieved without needing to push as hard as possible.

"We only used the bicep curl exercise in this study, but we believe this would be the case for other muscles also, at least to some extent," he said.

"Muscle strength is important to our health. This could help prevent a decrease in muscle mass and strength with aging."

"A decrease in muscle mass is a cause of many chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, dementia, plus musculoskeletal problems such as osteoporosis."

Rest Up

It is not yet known precisely why the body responds better to resistance exercises with eccentric contractions in smaller doses rather than bigger loads less frequently.

Professor Nosaka said it might relate to how often the brain is asked to make a muscle perform in a particular manner.

However, he stressed it was important to include rest in an exercise regimen.

"In this study, the 6x5 group had two days off per week," he said.

"Muscle adaptions occur when we are resting; if someone were able to train 24 hours a day somehow, there would be no improvement at all."

"Muscles need rest to improve their strength and their muscle mass, but muscles appear to like to be stimulated more frequently."

He also highlighted if someone was unable to exercise for a period, there was no value in trying to "make up" for it with a longer session later.

"If someone is sick and can't exercise for a week, that's fine, but it is better to just return to a regular exercise routine when you're feeling better," he said.

Clarifying Advice

Current Australian Government guidelines already indicate adults should try to be active every day and perform 2.5-5 hours of moderate physical activity per week.

Professor Nosaka said there needed to be more emphasis on doing exercise as a daily activity rather than hitting a weekly minute goal.

"If you're just going to the gym once a week, it's not as effective as doing a bit of exercise every day at home," he said.

"This research, together with our previous study, suggests the importance of accumulating a small amount of exercise a week than just spending hours exercising once a week."

"We need to know that every muscle contraction counts, and it's how regularly you perform them that counts."

'Greater effects by performing a small number of eccentric contractions daily than a larger number of them once a week' was published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports.

Attribution/Source(s):

This peer reviewed article relating to our Exercising with Disability section was selected for publishing by the editors of Disabled World due to its likely interest to our disability community readers. Though the content may have been edited for style, clarity, or length, the article "Is it Best to Exercise a Bit Daily or a Lot a Few Times a Week" was originally written by Edith Cowan University, and published by Disabled-World.com on 2022/08/15 (Updated: 2023/01/04). Should you require further information or clarification, Edith Cowan University can be contacted at ecu.edu.au. Disabled World makes no warranties or representations in connection therewith.

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