<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><italic>Study aim</italic>: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of 8 weeks of resistance training (RT) with three vs. four sessions per week and equated training volume on muscular adaptations in men.<italic>Materials and methods</italic>: Thirty-three healthy young men volunteered to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to three times per week whole-body RT (RT3, n = 11), four times per week whole-body RT (RT4, n = 11) or a control group (CG, n = 11). Before and after training, participants were evaluated for one-repetition maximum (1RM) and muscular endurance (i.e., 60% of 1RM to failure) for the leg press and bench press. In addition, thigh, arm, chest, and calf circumferences, and percent body fat were assessed before and after training.<italic>Results</italic>: The findings revealed significant main effects of time for chest and thigh circumferences (p ≤ 0.05). There were no significant group × time interactions for chest and thigh circumferences (p > 0.05), but the RT4 showed greater changes (effect size [ES]: 0.48 vs. 0.15) in chest circumference, while the RT3 showed greater changes (ES: 0.77 vs. 0.35) in thigh circumference. Significant group × time interactions were observed for the 1RM of leg and bench presses (p &lt; 0.05). Post-hoc analyses showed greater improvements for RT3 in comparison to RT4 in 1RM bench press (p = 0.01, ES: 0.77 vs. 0.6) and leg presses (p = 0.009, ES: 0.94 vs. 0.86).<italic>Conclusions</italic>: These results suggest that RT induces meaningful adaptive effects to improve strength and muscle size in men and RT3 appears to be more effective to induce muscular adaptations.</abstract>

Study aim: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of 8 weeks of resistance training (RT) with three vs. four sessions per week and equated training volume on muscular adaptations in men.Materials and methods: Thirty-three healthy young men volunteered to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to three times per week whole-body RT (RT3, n = 11), four times per week whole-body RT (RT4, n = 11) or a control group (CG, n = 11). Before and after training, participants were evaluated for one-repetition maximum (1RM) and muscular endurance (i.e., 60% of 1RM to failure) for the leg press and bench press. In addition, thigh, arm, chest, and calf circumferences, and percent body fat were assessed before and after training.Results: The findings revealed significant main effects of time for chest and thigh circumferences (p ≤ 0.05). There were no significant group × time interactions for chest and thigh circumferences (p > 0.05), but the RT4 showed greater changes (effect size [ES]: 0.48 vs. 0.15) in chest circumference, while the RT3 showed greater changes (ES: 0.77 vs. 0.35) in thigh circumference. Significant group × time interactions were observed for the 1RM of leg and bench presses (p < 0.05). Post-hoc analyses showed greater improvements for RT3 in comparison to RT4 in 1RM bench press (p = 0.01, ES: 0.77 vs. 0.6) and leg presses (p = 0.009, ES: 0.94 vs. 0.86).Conclusions: These results suggest that RT induces meaningful adaptive effects to improve strength and muscle size in men and RT3 appears to be more effective to induce muscular adaptations.

Effects of a resistance training program on muscular performance adaptations: comparing three vs. four times per week

Department of Exercise Physiology, Faculty of Sport Sciences

Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences

Biomedical Human Kinetics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Study aim: The aim of this study was to examine the effects of 8 weeks of resistance training (RT) with three vs. four sessions per week and equated training...

Effects of a resistance training program on muscular performance adaptations: comparing three vs. four times per week

Published Online: May 29, 2020

Page range: 149 - 156

Received: Nov 09, 2019

Accepted: May 09, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bhk-2020-0019

Keywords
Frequency, Strength training, Body composition, Performance, Workout

© 2020 Hossein Firoozi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Effects of a resistance training program on muscular performance adaptations: comparing three vs. four times per week

Published Online: May 29, 2020

Page range: 149 - 156

Received: Nov 09, 2019

Accepted: May 09, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/bhk-2020-0019

KeywordsFrequency, Strength training, Body composition, Performance, Workout

© 2020 Hossein Firoozi et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Frequency, Strength training, Body composition, Performance, Workout