Effects of High-Volume versus High-Load Resistance Training on Skeletal Muscle Growth and Molecular Adaptations (original) (raw)
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PloS one, 2018
We sought to identify biomarkers which delineated individual hypertrophic responses to resistance training. Untrained, college-aged males engaged in full-body resistance training (3 d/wk) for 12 weeks. Body composition via dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA), vastus lateralis (VL) thickness via ultrasound, blood, VL muscle biopsies, and three-repetition maximum (3-RM) squat strength were obtained prior to (PRE) and following (POST) 12 weeks of training. K-means cluster analysis based on VL thickness changes identified LOW [n = 17; change (mean±SD) = +0.11±0.14 cm], modest (MOD; n = 29, +0.40±0.06 cm), and high (HI; n = 21, +0.69±0.14 cm) responders. Biomarkers related to histology, ribosome biogenesis, proteolysis, inflammation, and androgen signaling were analyzed between clusters. There were main effects of time (POST>PRE, p<0.05) but no cluster×time interactions for increases in DXA lean body mass, type I and II muscle fiber cross sectional area and myonuclear number, satellite...
Rapid Increase in Training Load Affects Markers of Skeletal Muscle Damage and Mechanical Performance
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2012
The aim of this study was to monitor the changes in indirect markers of muscle damage during 3 weeks (9 training sessions) of stretch-shortening (drop jump) exercise with constant load alternated with steep increases in load. Physically active men (n = 9, mean age 19.1 years) performed a program involving a rapid stepwise increase in the number of jumps, drop height, and squat depth, and the addition of weight. Concentric, isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), and stimulated knee extension torque were measured before and 10 minutes after each session. Muscle soreness and plasma creatine kinase activity were assessed after each session. Steep increments in stretch-shortening exercise load in sessions 4 and 7 AMplified the postexercise decrease in stimulated muscle torque and slightly increased muscle soreness but had a minimal effect on the recovery of MVC and stimulated torque. Maximal jump height increased by 7.8 6 6.3% (p , 0.05), 11.4 6 3.3% (p , 0.05), and 12.8 6 3.6% (p , 0.05) at 3, 10, and 17 days after the final training session, respectively. Gains in isometric knee extension MVC (7.9 6 8.2%) and 100-Hz-evoked torque (9.9 6 9.6%) (both p , 0.05) were observed within 17 days after the end of the training. The magnitude of improvement was greater after this protocol than that induced by a continuous constant progression loading pattern with small gradual load increments in each training session. These findings suggest that plyometric training using infrequent but steep increases in loading intensity and volume may be beneficial to athletic performance.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2015
The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of low-versus high-load resistance training (RT) on muscular adaptations in well-trained subjects. Eighteen young men experienced in RT were matched according to baseline strength, and then randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental groups: a low-load RT routine (LL) where 25-35 repetitions were performed per set per exercise (n = 9), or a high-load RT routine (HL) where 8-12 repetitions were performed per set per exercise (n = 9). During each session, subjects in both groups performed 3 sets of 7 different exercises representing all major muscles. Training was carried out 3 times per week on non-consecutive days, for 8 total weeks. Both HL and LL conditions produced significant increases in thickness of the elbow flexors (5.3 vs. 8.6%, respectively), elbow extensors (6.0 vs. 5.2%, respectively), and quadriceps femoris (9.3 vs. 9.5%, respectively), with no significant differences noted between groups. Improvements in back squat strength were significantly greater for HL compared to LL (19.6 vs. 8.8%, respectively) and there was a trend for greater increases in 1RM bench press (6.5 vs. 2.0%, respectively). Upper body muscle endurance (assessed by the bench press at 50% 1RM to failure) improved to a greater extent in LL compared to HL (16.6% vs.-1.2%, respectively). These findings indicate that both HL and LL training to failure can elicit significant increases in muscle hypertrophy among well-trained young men; however, HL training is superior for maximizing strength adaptations.
Journal of strength and conditioning research / National Strength & Conditioning Association, 2015
The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of low- versus high-load resistance training (RT) on muscular adaptations in well-trained subjects. Eighteen young men experienced in RT were matched according to baseline strength, and then randomly assigned to 1 of 2 experimental groups: a low-load RT routine (LL) where 25-35 repetitions were performed per set per exercise (n = 9), or a high-load RT routine (HL) where 8-12 repetitions were performed per set per exercise (n = 9). During each session, subjects in both groups performed 3 sets of 7 different exercises representing all major muscles. Training was carried out 3 times per week on non-consecutive days, for 8 total weeks. Both HL and LL conditions produced significant increases in thickness of the elbow flexors (5.3 vs. 8.6%, respectively), elbow extensors (6.0 vs. 5.2%, respectively), and quadriceps femoris (9.3 vs. 9.5%, respectively), with no significant differences noted between groups. Improvements in back squat stre...
Translational sports medicine, 2023
Trained individuals may require variations in training stimuli and advanced resistance training paradigms (ADV) to increase skeletal muscle hypertrophy. However, no meta-analysis has examined how ADV versus traditional (TRAD) approaches may diferentially afect hypertrophic outcomes in trained populations. Te aim of this review was to determine whether the skeletal muscle hypertrophy responses induced by TRAD difered from ADV in resistance-trained individuals. Furthermore, we sought to examine potential efects of dietary factors, participants' training status, and training loads. We searched for peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trials (published in English) conducted in healthy resistance-trained adults performing a period of TRAD and ADV with pre-to-post measurement(s) of muscle hypertrophy in PubMed, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, and MEDLINE databases up to October 2022. A formal meta-analysis was conducted in Revman5, and risk of bias was assessed by ROB2. Ten studies met the inclusion criteria. Results indicated no diference between ADV and TRAD for muscle thickness (SMD = 0.05, 95% CI: −0.20 0.29, p = 0.70), lean mass (SMD = −0.01, 95% CI: −0.26 0.23, p = 0.92), muscle cross-sectional area (SMD = −0.07, 95% CI: −0.36 0.22, p = 0.64), or all measurements analyzed together (SMD = −0.00, 95% CI: −0.15 0.14, p = 0.95). No heterogeneity or inconsistencies were observed; however, unclear risk of bias was present in most of the studies. Short-term ADV does not induce superior skeletal muscle hypertrophy responses when compared with TRAD in trained individuals. Tis review was not previously registered.
An examination of the time course of training-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy
Skeletal muscle hypertrophy is typically considered to be a slow process. However, this is partly because the time course for hypertrophy has not been thoroughly examined. The purpose of this study was to use weekly testing to determine a precise time course of skeletal muscle hypertrophy during a resistance training program. Twenty-Wve healthy, sedentary men performed 8 weeks of high-intensity resistance training. Whole muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) of the dominant thigh was assessed using a peripheral quantitative computed tomography scanner during each week of training (W1-W8). Isometric maximum voluntary contractions (MVC) were also measured each week. After only two training sessions (W1), the mean thigh muscle CSA increased by 5.0 cm 2 (3.46%; p < 0.05) from the pre-testing (P1) and continued to increase with each testing session. It is possible that muscular edema may have inXuenced the early CSA results. To adjust for this possibility, with edema assumedly at its highest at W1, the next signiWcant increase from W1 was at W3. W4 was the Wrst signiWcant increase of MVC over P1. Therefore, signiWcant skeletal muscle hypertrophy likely occurred around weeks 3-4. Overall, from the pre-testing to W8, there was an increase of 13.9 cm 2 (9.60%). These Wndings suggested that training-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy may occur early in a training program.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2014
Schoenfeld, BJ, Ratamess, NA, Peterson, MD, Contreras, B, Sonmez, GT, and Alvar, BA. Effects of different volume-equated resistance training loading strategies on muscular adaptations in well-trained men. J Strength Cond Res 28(10): 2909-2918, 2014 -Regimented resistance training has been shown to promote marked increases in skeletal muscle mass. Although muscle hypertrophy can be attained through a wide range of resistance training programs, the principle of specificity, which states that adaptations are specific to the nature of the applied stimulus, dictates that some programs will promote greater hypertrophy than others. Research is lacking, however, as to the best combination of variables required to maximize hypertophic gains. The purpose of this study was to investigate muscular adaptations to a volume-equated bodybuilding-type training program vs. a powerlifting-type routine in well-trained subjects. Seventeen young men were randomly assigned to either a hypertrophy-type resistance training group that performed 3 sets of 10 repetition maximum (RM) with 90 seconds rest or a strength-type resistance training (ST) group that performed 7 sets of 3RM with a 3-minute rest interval. After 8 weeks, no significant differences were noted in muscle thickness of the biceps brachii. Significant strength differences were found in favor of ST for the 1RM bench press, and a trend was found for greater increases in the 1RM squat. In conclusion, this study showed that both bodybuilding-and powerlifting-type training promote similar increases in muscular size, but powerlifting-type training is superior for enhancing maximal strength.
Physiological reports, 2015
This investigation compared the effect of high-volume (VOL) versus high-intensity (INT) resistance training on stimulating changes in muscle size and strength in resistance-trained men. Following a 2-week preparatory phase, participants were randomly assigned to either a high-volume (VOL; n = 14, 4 × 10-12 repetitions with ~70% of one repetition maximum [1RM], 1-min rest intervals) or a high-intensity (INT; n = 15, 4 × 3-5 repetitions with ~90% of 1RM, 3-min rest intervals) training group for 8 weeks. Pre- and posttraining assessments included lean tissue mass via dual energy x-ray absorptiometry, muscle cross-sectional area and thickness of the vastus lateralis (VL), rectus femoris (RF), pectoralis major, and triceps brachii muscles via ultrasound images, and 1RM strength in the back squat and bench press (BP) exercises. Blood samples were collected at baseline, immediately post, 30 min post, and 60 min postexercise at week 3 (WK3) and week 10 (WK10) to assess the serum testosteron...
Gross Measures of Exercise-Induced Muscular Hypertrophy
Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 2000
Pretest-posttest, single factor design. Objectives: To compare several indices that might be used to depict muscle size. Background: The particular strategy used during heavy-resistance training may determine the magnitude of hypertrophic adaptations. At the same time, assorted measures supposedly reflecting muscle size may provide different results. Methods and Measures: Four groups of men (n = 38, mean age = 21.1 years, SD = 2.1) were exposed to conditions designed to elicit differential hypertrophic adaptations following 21 sessions of squat training. Three of the groups performed 4 sets of multiple repetitions maximum (RM): group 1,3-5 RM; group 11, 13-1 5 RM; and group 111,23-25 RM. A control (C) group did no formal physical training. Tests used to represent muscle size included body weight, thigh girth, net thigh girth, and quadriceps femoris and hamstring thicknesses via Bmode ultrasound. Results Changes in the groups subsequent to training were similar for body weight and hamstring thickness. Results differed for the remaining 3 dependent variables (mean 2 SD): thigh girth was greater in groups 11 (1.42 2 1.00) and 111 (1.35 2 1.1 6) than in group C (0.24 2 0.69); net thigh girth was greater in groups 11 (1.33 2 0.77) and 111 (1.40 2 1.03) than in group C (0.10 2 0.84); and quadriceps femoris thickness was greater in all 3 training groups (1, 0.61 2 0.54; 11, 0.43 2 0.30; 111, 0.55 2 0.39) than in group C (0.05 2 0.11). Conclusions: Observed muscle mass change following heavy-resistance training is dependent upon both the training intervention and tool used for measurement.) Orthop Sporb Phys Ther ZOOO; 3O: 143-148.