The contribution of muscle hypertrophy to strength changes following resistance training
Open accessAbstract
Purpose Whilst skeletal muscle hypertrophy is considered an important adaptation to resistance training (RT), it has not previously been found to explain the inter-individual changes in strength after RT. This study investigated the contribution of hypertrophy to individual gains in isometric, isoinertial and explosive strength after 12 weeks of elbow flexor RT.Methods Thirty-three previously untrained, healthy men (18-30 years) completed an initial 3-week period of elbow flexor RT (to facilitate neurological responses) followed by 6-week no training, and then 12-week elbow flexor RT. Unilateral elbow flexor muscle strength [isometric maximum voluntary force (iMVF), single repetition maximum (1-RM) and explosive force], muscle volume (V(m)), muscle fascicle pennation angle (θ(p)) and normalized agonist, antagonist and stabilizer sEMG were assessed pre and post 12-week RT.Results Percentage gains in V(m) correlated with percentage changes in iMVF (r = 0.527; P = 0.002) and 1-RM (r = 0.482; P = 0.005) but not in explosive force (r ≤ 0.243; P ≥ 0.175). Percentage changes in iMVF, 1-RM, and explosive force did not correlate with percentage changes in agonist, antagonist or stabilizer sEMG (all P > 0.05). Percentage gains in θ(p) inversely correlated with percentage changes in normalized explosive force at 150 ms after force onset (r = 0.362; P = 0.038).Conclusions We have shown for the first time that muscle hypertrophy explains a significant proportion of the inter-individual variability in isometric and isoinertial strength gains following 12-week elbow flexor RT in healthy young men.
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Both the ability to activate the muscle at high force levels and muscle size might be influential on RFD.
“Therefore, both the ability to activate the muscle at high force levels (which is not necessarily associated with the ability to rapidly activate the muscle at force onset) (de Ruiter et al. 2004) and muscle size might be influential (Andersen and Aagaard 2006; Erskine et al. 2014).”
From Rate of force development: physiological and methodological considerations (2016) · cites this paper as Erskine et al. 2014
The Pre-training relationships section reports that muscle size correlated with explosive force at 100 and 150 ms, supporting a possible role for size. It did not correlate with force at 50 ms, and the Additional information section reports no relationship between training-induced changes in muscle size and peak RFD. The muscle-activation portion of the citing sentence is attached to a different citation. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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References 43 · Cited by 129
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Allen GM, McKenzie DK, Gandevia SC (1998) Twitch interpolation of the elbow flexor muscles at high forces. Muscle Nerve 21 (3):318-328
- Authors
- Erskine, R. M., Fletcher, G., & Folland, J. P.
- Affiliations
- Loughborough University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Erskine, Robert M.
- Venue
- European Journal of Applied Physiology
- Published
- 2014-03-09
- Volume
- 114
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1239-1249
- ISSN
- 0020-9376 (ISSN-L)
- 1439-6319
- 1439-6327
- OpenAlex
- W2000773478
- Cited by
- 129
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 13.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- European Journal of Applied Physiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Liverpool John Moores University (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Muscle activation and electromyography studies
- Keywords
- muscle hypertrophy, resistance training, strength gain, interindividual variability, elbow flexors, explosive strength, muscle volume, surface electromyography
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Humans, Male, Organ Size, Muscle, Skeletal, Muscle Strength, Resistance Training
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