Adaptations to strength training

Overview

Muscle hypertrophy of fast glycolytic fibres, hyperplasia, connective tissue, early neural gains, motor unit recruitment, the Golgi tendon organs, agonist and antagonist coordination, buffering and anaerobic enzymes.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What is muscle hypertrophy?

   Model answer

   Muscle hypertrophy is an increase in the cross-sectional area of muscle fibres. More actin and myosin are made, so the muscle can produce more force.

2. 2

   Which muscle fibres show the greatest hypertrophy after strength training?

   Model answer

   Fast glycolytic fibres show the greatest hypertrophy. Fast oxidative glycolytic fibres also enlarge.

3. 3

   What is hyperplasia, and how strong is the evidence for it in humans?

   Model answer

   Hyperplasia is an increase in the number of muscle fibres by splitting. The evidence for hyperplasia in humans is limited, so hypertrophy is the main cause of growth.

4. 4

   How do connective tissues adapt to strength training?

   Model answer

   Tendons and ligaments become thicker and stronger. Bone density increases, so joints are more stable and injury risk falls.

5. 5

   Why do strength gains in the first few weeks happen before muscles grow?

   Model answer

   Early gains are mostly neural. The nervous system learns to recruit more motor units and coordinate them better.

6. 6

   How does strength training improve motor unit recruitment?

   Model answer

   More motor units, especially large fast glycolytic units, are recruited at once. Motor units also fire more synchronously and at a higher frequency.

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