Hormonal, Psychological, And Muscle Damaging Effects Of An Acute Bout Of Farmers' Walk Resistance Exercise

Abstract

The Farmers’ Walk (FW) exercise may help to enhance resistance training programs by incorporating movements which supplement functional tasks such as lifting and carrying weight over various distances. Minimal information exists concerning the intramuscular responses associated with FW performance, which may negatively promote perception and application of this exercise in prescribed protocols. PURPOSE: To investigate the hormonal, psychological, and muscle damaging effects of an acute bout of the Farmers’ Walk Carry (FWC) when compared to an individual’s unloaded walking pattern (NWC). METHODS: Fifteen participants (mean ± SEM; age: 21.6 ± 0.5 yrs; height: 172.5 ± 2.4 cm; weight: 81.8 ± 4.0 kg) completed a series of testing sessions. In the initial session, participant’s demographic information, anthropometrics, body composition, lower body power, and strength were measured. Subsequently, participants completed two counter-balanced conditions during which they performed 10 repetitions of a 20 m walk while either carrying 70% of their 1-repetition maximum deadlift or non-weighted walk. Participants were allowed a 30 s rest period after odd-numbered repetitions, and 2 min of rest after even-numbered repetitions. Participants provided self-reported evaluations of muscle soreness (VPMS), blood sampling for myoglobin (Mb) and creating kinase (CK-MB), and saliva samples for testosterone (T) which were collected prior to the exercise protocol, immediately after the exercise protocol, and 30- and 60-min after completion of the exercise. Post-exercise assessment consisted of blood sampling, saliva, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, and VPMS scores collected at 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h in both conditions. RESULTS: Increases were observed for overall (p<0.001) and upper body VPMS measurements (p<0.01) along with decreases in CK-MB (p=0.04) during the FWC. No significant differences were revealed for Mb, T, or CMJ height. CONCLUSIONS: The discrepancy found between upper- and lower-body muscle soreness (VPMS) during the FWC may be related to differences in primary muscle recruitment and their joint concentric, eccentric, and isometric muscle actions. These variances may have indirectly minimized post-exercise muscle damage, hormonal responses, and neuromuscular inhibitions of lower body performance.