Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess if native whey protein (NW) supplementation could promote recovery and training adaptations after an electrostimulation (ES) training program combined to plyometrics training. Participants were allocated into three groups, supplemented 5 days/week, either with 15 g of carbohydrates + 15 g of NW (n = 17), 15 g of carbohydrates + 15 g of standard whey protein (SW; n = 15), or placebo (PLA; 30 g of carbohydrates; n = 10), while undergoing a 12-week ES training program of the knee extensors. Concentric power (Pmax) was evaluated before, immediately after, as well as 30 min, 60 min, 24 h, and 48 h after the 1st, 4th and last ES training session. The maximal voluntary contraction torque (MVC), twitch amplitude, anatomical cross-sectional area (CSA) and maximal voluntary activation level (VA) were measured before (T0), and after 6 (T1) and 12 weeks of training (T2). Pmax recovery kinetics differed between groups (p < 0.01). Pmax started to recover at 30 min in NW, 24 h in SW and 48 h in PLA. Training adaptations also differed between groups: MVC increased between T0 and T2 in NW (+11.8%, p < 0.001) and SW (+7.1%, p < 0.05), but not PLA. Nevertheless, the adaptation kinetics differed: MVC increased in NW and SW between T0 and T1, but an additional gain was only observed between T1 and T2 in NW. VA declined at T1 and T2 in PLA (−3.9%, p < 0.05), at T2 in SW (−3.5%, p < 0.05), and was unchanged in NW. CSA increased, but did not differ between groups. These results suggest that NW could promote a faster recovery and neuromuscular adaptations after training than SW. However, the mechanisms underlying this effect remain to be identified.
Highlights
IntroductionRecovery is of utmost importance. the recovery process alleviates the negative consequences of fatigue and promotes improvement in physical abilities
During physical training, recovery is of utmost importance
Groups did not differ at baseline, excepted for crosssectional area (CSA), which was higher in PLA than native whey protein (NW) and standard whey protein (SW), and fat intake, which was lower in PLA than NW and SW
Summary
Recovery is of utmost importance. the recovery process alleviates the negative consequences of fatigue and promotes improvement in physical abilities. The issue of recovery gets even more critical when the level of practice increases, since the frequency and duration of training are generally very high in elite athletes (Barnett, 2006). Some training modalities, such as long duration exercise bouts, eccentric exercise or electrostimulation (ES) training may generate particular recovery issues, since they generate a high physiological stress on the motor units. It has been demonstrated that both eccentric and ES exercise bouts can generate muscle damage (Clarkson et al, 1986; Jubeau et al, 2012), which triggers an inflammatory response This inflammation is associated with a slow recovery, which can last several days (Nosaka and Sakamoto, 2001). ES training can lead to a state of overreaching at the end of an ES training program, translating into blunted training adaptations (Zory et al, 2010)
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