Enhanced skeletal muscle contractile function and corticospinal excitability precede strength and architectural adaptations during lower-limb resistance training

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Wilson, MT, Hunter, AM ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7562-6145, Fairweather, M, Kerr, S, Hamilton, DL and Macgregor, LJ, 2023. Enhanced skeletal muscle contractile function and corticospinal excitability precede strength and architectural adaptations during lower-limb resistance training. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 123 (9), pp. 1911-1928. ISSN 1439-6319

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-023-05201-8

Abstract

Purpose

Evolving investigative techniques are providing greater understanding about the early neuromuscular responses to resistance training among novice exercisers. The aim of this study was to investigate the time-course of changes in muscle contractile mechanics, architecture, neuromuscular, and strength adaptation during the first 6-weeks of lower-limb resistance training.

Methods

Forty participants: 22 intervention (10 males/12 females; 173.48 ± 5.20 cm; 74.01 ± 13.13 kg) completed 6-week resistance training, and 18 control (10 males/8 females; 175.52 ± 7.64 cm; 70.92 ± 12.73 kg) performed no resistance training and maintained their habitual activity. Radial muscle displacement (Dm) assessed via tensiomyography, knee extension maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), voluntary activation (VA), corticospinal excitability and inhibition via transcranial magnetic stimulation, motor unit (MU) firing rate, and muscle thickness and pennation angle via ultrasonography were assessed before and after 2, 4, and 6-weeks of dynamic lower-limb resistance training or control.

Results

After 2-weeks training, Dm reduced by 19–25% in the intervention group; this was before any changes in neural or morphological measures. After 4-weeks training, MVC increased by 15% along with corticospinal excitability by 16%; however, there was no change in VA, corticospinal inhibition, or MU firing rate. After 6-weeks training there was further MVC increase by 6% along with muscle thickness by 13–16% and pennation angle by 13–14%.

Conclusion

Enhanced contractile properties and corticospinal excitability occurred before any muscle architecture, neural, and strength adaptation. Later increases in muscular strength can be accounted for by architectural adaptation.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	European Journal of Applied Physiology
Creators:	Wilson, M.T., Hunter, A.M., Fairweather, M., Kerr, S., Hamilton, D.L. and Macgregor, L.J.
Publisher:	Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date:	September 2023
Volume:	123
Number:	9
ISSN:	1439-6319
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s00421-023-05201-8 DOI 1898393 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2023. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Science and Technology
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	30 May 2024 15:33
Last Modified:	30 May 2024 15:33
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/51493