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Exercise one arm and the other benefits?

This is an interesting looking study.

Exercise-induced muscle damage and the repeated bout effect: evidence for cross transfer

A prior bout of eccentric exercise in the elbow flexors provided protection against exercise-induced muscle damage in the contralateral arm.

The abstract says that this is
evidence for a centrally mediated, neural adaptation.
Interesting that  it is not all in the muscle - there are also things going on centrally
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Comments

A. Batatolis said…
Really interesting..I first of "contra-lateral training" on Ellington Darden's bigger muscles in 42 days, the first (and only) bodyduilding book i read.That's where i first heard of super-slow workouts as well, althought i then dismissed them, not getting the "pump" i was used to.Reading it again, I'm surprised that he put his trainees into 12 workouts into the first 14 days(lowering the workout days progressively)! Guess it worked (34 pounds gain!).Have you read it and what's your thoughts about it?
July 5, 2011 at 3:22 AM
Panic Attacks said…
There must be something to it. Exercising certain pars of the body will bring overall health benefits. This kind of study may be highly beneficial to stroke victims who have lost use of one arm and other similar situations.
July 6, 2011 at 7:55 AM
John Sifferman said…
This might be overly-simplistic, but if you think about it, it's extremely difficult to contract one limb without partially contracting the other. We move bilaterally, and what one hand is doing, the other will usually follow-along with. This is one of the reasons why shooting instructors teach you to keep your finger off the trigger of a firearm until you're ready to fire. If you grab or squeeze something with your non-shooting hand, you're liable to squeeze with the shooting one, too.
July 8, 2011 at 12:25 PM
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