HES 319 Lecture Notes - One-Repetition Maximum, Motor Unit
Document Summary
Strength training results in two major categories of adaptations that underlie the changes in strength. Adaptations in the nervous system that underlie increases in maximal force production. Adaptations in muscle that result in the addition of contractile proteins in the muscle. Strength increases greater than the increases in muscle size. Strength changes are often much greater than changes in the size of the muscle. This means that after training the same amount of muscle can produce more force. This suggests that factors other than hypertrophy (increases in the size of the muscle) are responsible for strength gain. By default, these other factors must be neural in origin. To assess this, strength is expressed per unit of muscle (n/csa, kg load/muscle volume) Strength training almost always increases strength per unit of muscle. Changes in strength are greatest when the testing mode is specific to, or matches, the training mode.
