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Updated: Jul 9, 2025
Application of Chronic Stimulation to Study Contractile Activity-induced Rat Skeletal Muscle Phenotypic Adaptations
Published on: January 25, 2018
Muscular Adaptations Between Very Low Load Resistance Training With Pulsed Direct Current Stimulation (Neubie) and
William B Hammert1, Enrique N Moreno1, Ecaterina Vasenina1
1USF Muscle Lab, Exercise Science Program, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
Objectives:
This study compared muscle growth in response to very low load resistance training with direct pulsed current (DPC) stimulation and traditional high load training.
Methods:
Twenty-six resistance trained individuals had each leg assigned to one of two unilateral knee extension protocols: 1) 4 sets of 20 repetitions at ~10% one-repetition maximum (1RM) and inter-set rest periods of 30 s (DPC) and 2) 4 sets to muscular failure at ~70% 1RM (TRAD). Muscle thickness (MTH), 1RM strength, and local muscular endurance (LME) were measured before and after 8-weeks of training. An alpha level of 0.05 was used for all comparisons.
Results:
MTH increased similarly between TRAD and DPC at the 50% (0.24 cm, 95%CI: 0.11-0.36), and the 60% anterior sites (0.25 cm, 95%CI: 0.10-.040), as well as the lateral (0.25 cm, 95%CI: 0.10-.040) and medial sites (0.21 cm, 95%CI: 0.10-0.31), but was greater for TRAD at the 40% anterior site (0.3 cm, 95%CI: 0.16-0.43). Changes in 1RM were greater for TRAD (10.2 kg, 95%CI: 5.8-14.4). LME increased similarly between protocols (5 repetitions, 95%CI: 3-7).
Conclusions:
The current data suggest that very low load knee extension resistance training with DPC could be a viable training strategy for promoting skeletal muscle growth and local muscular endurance.
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