Monday, April 07, 2008

Less Pain, More Gain? Weightlifting rules changed.

I just couldn't help posting about this study that goes completely against the old "no pain, no gain" rule of weightlifting and muscle building.

Check this out:
Taking daily recommended dosages of ibuprofen and acetaminophen caused a substantially greater increase over placebo in the amount of quadriceps muscle mass and muscle strength gained during three months of regular weight lifting, in a study by physiologists at the Human Performance Laboratory, Ball State University
Isn't that just interesting? So, should we change the saying in the weight room to "less pain, more gain?" An interesting question may also be: will taking a daily Tylenol when lifting, or an Ibuprofin, produce gains equal to that of Anabolic Steroids or Human Growth Hormone (HGH) or protein powders, whey protein, amino acid supplements, etc? :)

Regardless, it was an interesting study.

2 comments:

DED said...

Pssst. You left out the link for the study.

Retarded Engineers said...

maybe the pain killers allow one to lift heavier weights since heavy weights can be painful to lift. This needs to be controlled and clarified in the studies more: they need to regulate how much weight they are lifting, or at least mention the amount of weight lifted. Are they lifting heavier weights when taking the medication, or is it the same amount of weight being lifted?