Abstract
Purpose: To examine cerebral cortical activation differences in the frontal cortex and parietal lobe during the performance of two types of dumbbell exercise.Methods: A total of 22 young healthy male adults (mean age, 23.8 ± 2.05 years; height, 1.75 ± 0.06 m; weight, 71.4 ± 8.80 kg) participated in a crossover design study that involved two experimental exercise conditions: momentum dumbbell and conventional dumbbell. Performance tasks included 10, 10-s sets of single-arm dumbbell exercise, with a rest interval of 60 s between sets and a 5-min washout period between conditions. The primary outcome was the cerebral concentrations of oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2) in the frontal cortex and parietal lobe assessed during performance of both exercises using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The secondary outcome was upper-limb muscle activation measured using surface electromyography (sEMG). Outcome data were ascertained during exercise.Results: A significant between-condition difference in HbO2 was observed in the frontal and parietal regions with an increase in HbO2 during momentum, relative to conventional, dumbbell exercise (p < 0.05). Compared to conventional dumbbell exercise, performing a momentum dumbbell exercise led to a higher level of muscle activation in the anterior and posterior deltoids of the upper arm and in the flexor carpi radialis and extensor carpi radialis longus of the forearm (p < 0.05). However, no between-condition differences were found in the biceps and triceps brachii (p > 0.05).Conclusion: Dynamic, compared with conventional, dumbbell exercise resulted in higher hemodynamic responses and greater upper-limb muscle activation in young healthy adults. The findings of this study showed differential cortical hemodynamic responses during performance of the two types of dumbbell exercise with a higher activation level produced during momentum-based dumbbell exercise.
Highlights
MATERIALS AND METHODSThere is irrefutable scientific evidence showing the health benefits of various exercise modalities such as aerobic, resistance and balance training and flexibility exercise in improving cardiovascular fitness (Fletcher et al, 2018), cognitive function (Northey et al, 2018), musculoskeletal health (Hagen et al, 2012), and the metabolic system (Park and Larson, 2014)
By extending the studies of conventional (Bai et al, 2016) and momentum (Lü et al, 2015) dumbbell exercises on brain activity and cognitive function, this study aims to examine cerebral cortical activation differences in the regions of the frontal cortex and parietal lobe during the performance of conventional dumbbell and momentum dumbbell exercises using functional near infrared spectroscopy among young healthy adults
Through quantification of functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we found that, both the momentum and conventional dumbbell exercises elicited oxygenated hemodynamic responses in the frontal cortex and parietal lobe, the momentum dumbbell exercise produced a higher level of acute cerebral response than the conventional exercise
Summary
There is irrefutable scientific evidence showing the health benefits of various exercise modalities such as aerobic, resistance and balance training and flexibility exercise in improving cardiovascular fitness (Fletcher et al, 2018), cognitive function (Northey et al, 2018), musculoskeletal health (Hagen et al, 2012), and the metabolic system (Park and Larson, 2014). Among the most common exercise modalities, resistance training, which causes the muscles to contract against an external resistance, has been shown to be therapeutically effective in improving muscular strength (Grgic et al, 2018), balance (Orr et al, 2008), bone health (Hong and Kim, 2018), and cognitive function (Li et al, 2018) among younger and older adults. Findings of the study showed that, compared with a no-exercise control condition, 12 weeks of momentum dumbbell training resulted in significant improvement in cognitive ability and physical performance. While conventional dumbbell exercise was shown to increase brain oxygenation (Bai et al, 2016), the augmented momentum dumbbell exercise has shown potential for enhancing cognition
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