Adaptations of skeletal muscle to endurance exercise and their metabolic consequences.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review describing physiological mechanisms without systematic review methodology or original trial data in the abstract
PubMed 6373687 · doi:10.1152/jappl.1984.56.4.831
What was done
This paper is a narrative review detailing the physiological and biochemical adaptations of skeletal muscle to regular endurance exercise, along with their downstream metabolic effects during exercise.
What was found
The abstract provides no quantitative data or specific numerical results. Qualitatively, it reports that endurance exercise increases skeletal muscle mitochondrial content and respiratory capacity. Consequently, exercise at a given intensity causes a smaller disruption to homeostasis in trained versus untrained muscle, characterized by slower utilization of muscle glycogen and blood glucose, greater reliance on fat oxidation, and reduced lactate production.
Why it matters
It outlines the classic physiological mechanisms explaining how endurance training enhances submaximal exercise efficiency and prolonged exercise performance.
Limits
As a narrative review, it lacks systematic search criteria, quality appraisal of included studies, and quantitative effect sizes. The abstract does not report specific populations, sample sizes, or training protocols.
Cited by
- supports Mitochondrial content largely limits or determines fat oxidation in skeletal muscle during exercise.