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US scientists say the days of hard work-outs
in the gym seeking a perfectly toned body could soon be a thing
of the past.
They claim just imagining yourself exercising
can increase the strength of muscles.
It is hoped the research could one day benefit
people too weak to exercise to start recuperating from strokes
or other injury.
Volunteers aged 20 to 35 were put through mental
gymnastics tests and after a few weeks showed up to a 13.5%
increase in strength, which they maintained for three months
after their training stopped.
Guang Yue, an exercise physiologist at the Cleveland
Clinic Foundation in Ohio, told New Scientist magazine that
muscles move in response to impulses from nearby motor neurons
and that the firing of those neurons in turn depends on the
strength of electrical impulses sent by the brain.
He said: "That suggests you can increase
muscle strength solely by sending a larger signal to motor neurons
from the brain."
Mr Yue and his colleagues have already found
that merely visualising exercise was enough to increase strength
in a muscle in the little finger which the muscle uses to move
the finger sideways.
Now his team have turned their attention to
a larger, more frequently used muscle, the bicep.
Story filed: 23:24 Wednesday 21st November 2001
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