Weekly Strength And Total Exercise Volume Changes During Super-slow, Traditional Strength, And Muscular Endurance Training

Abstract

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the weekly strength and total volume changes that occur during super slow, traditional strength, and muscular endurance training. METHODS Thirty-four healthy adult females (21.1 ± 2.7) were randomly divided into four groups: a control group (C), a traditional strength training group (TS), a traditional muscular endurance training group (TE), and a super-slow strength training group (SS). Subjects trained for 6 weeks, with the first week consisting of two training sessions and the remaining 5 weeks consisting of three training sessions per week. Subjects performed the leg press (LP), squat (SQ), and knee extension (KE). Each training group attended a minimum of 16 out of 17 training sessions in which the LP, SQ, and KE were performed to fatigue for three sets. For each training session, TS lifted a weight with a goal of reaching fatigue in 6–10 repetitions with each repetition lasting 3 seconds (concentric and eccentric); TE lifted a weight with a goal of reaching fatigue in 20–30 repetitions with each repetition lasting 2 seconds (concentric and eccentric); and SS lifted a weight with a goal of producing fatigue within 6–10 repetitions with each repetition lasting 14 seconds (10 seconds concentric, 4 seconds eccentric). Weekly average weight lifted for each exercise within each group (TS, TE, and SS) was calculated. Total exercise volume for all exercises combined was calculated by multiplying the number of sets, weight, repetitions, and time per repetition for all exercises. Repeated measures ANOVA, mixed model with LSD post hoc tests were used for statistical analysis. Level of significance was set at (α=0.05. RESULTS 1) TS strength increased in all exercises each week except LP between weeks 5–6. SS strength increased in SQ each week, LP each week except comparing weeks 4–6, and KE when comparing all weeks, except week 4, to week 6. TE strength increased in SQ when comparing all weeks to weeks 5 and 6, LP when comparing all weeks except week 6, and KE when comparing weeks 2, 3, and 4 to weeks 5 and 6. 2) The percent change in strength between consecutive weeks was similar for all groups with a few exceptions. In KE, TS had a greater change in strength between weeks 1–2 and 2–3 than SS and TE and in LP TS had a greater change in strength between weeks 2–3 than TE. 3) Total volume of exercise was greater in SS than TS and TE each week. CONCLUSIONS TS demonstrated the most consistent gains in weekly strength compared to SS and TE. Although the percent change in strength was generally similar among the three groups, the total volume of exercise was significantly greater in SS compared to TS and TE each week.