Sex differences in the impact of resistance exercise load on muscle damage: A protocol for a randomised parallel group trial.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Study protocol with no human data or results yet reported
PubMed 36174033 · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0275221
What was done
This paper describes a protocol for a randomized parallel-group trial in 48 untrained young adults (24 males, 24 females). Participants are planned to perform an acute leg-based resistance exercise session at either 30% (low-load) or 80% (high-load) of one-repetition maximum (1RM). Maximal leg strength is to be tested 3 weeks prior and 72 and 168 hours post-exercise, and muscle damage is scheduled for assessment pre-exercise and immediately, 24, 48, 72, and 168 hours post-exercise via muscle soreness, limb circumference, range of motion, and serum creatine kinase and interleukin-6.
What was found
The abstract reports no experimental findings, measurements, or statistical results because this is exclusively a proposed study protocol.
Why it matters
Female populations are underrepresented in exercise-induced muscle damage research. This protocol outlines a trial designed to clarify whether resistance load impacts muscle damage differently by sex to help guide sex-specific training recommendations.
Limits
As a study protocol, the paper provides no empirical data to evaluate. The planned study design is limited to an acute, single leg-exercise bout in untrained young adults with a modest sample size of 48 total participants (12 per subgroup).
Cited by
- context Scientific evidence indicates that higher-repetition resistance training creates more muscle damage than lower-repetition training.