Squeezing in a solid workout can be a challenge for time-poor fitness enthusiasts, but lately we’re seeing exercise scientists really drill into what the most efficient workouts might look like. A team at Australia’s Edith Cowan University (ECU) has offered new insights in this area, through a study demonstrating that a focus on lowering weights rather than lifting them may be a more efficient way to increase muscle mass.

Over the course of this year, the Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers have made some interesting findings around weight training and how short and sharp workouts can still be very worthwhile. In February, the team showed that three-second dumbbell workouts each day can offer significant gains in strength, then in August they showed that lowering a dumbbell six times a day could offer the same kind of benefit.

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These studies explored the types of muscle gains offered by different phases of weight training. The lifting phase shortens the muscle and is known as a concentric contraction, as occurs when a dumbbell is raised towards the shoulders in a bicep curl. An eccentric contraction is the opposite phase, the lowering of the weight back towards the hips, which lengthens the muscle.

Read more: New Atlas