Question

Discuss the physiological adaptations (based on length of training) that occur with strength training.

Answer 1

• Strength training is one of the most widely practiced forms of physical activity, which is used to enhance athletic performance, augment musculo-skeletal health and alter body aesthetics.
• Resistance training results in a wide spectrum of adaptations in various physiological systems.
• Chronic exposure to this type of activity will produces marked increase in muscular strength, which are formed by neurological and morphological adaptations.
• Increases in muscle size and strength, changes in body composition, neuroendocrine function and cardiovascular responses have been observed following strength training.
• The primary morphological adaptations involve an increase in the cross-sectional area of the whole muscle and individual muscle fibres, which is due to an increase in myofibrillar size and number.
• Satellite cells are activated in the very early stages of training and their proliferation and later fusion with existing fibres appears to be intimately involved in the hypertrophy response.
• Other possible morphological adaptations include hyperplasia, changes in fibre type, muscle architecture, myofilament density and the structure of connective tissue and tendons.
• Indirect evidence for neurological adaptations ,   which encompasses learning and coordination, comes from the specificity of the training adaptation, transfer of unilateral training to the contralateral limb and imagined contractions. The apparent rise in whole-muscle specific tension has been primarily used as evidence for neurological adaptations.
• The gains in strength with strength training are due to a wide combination of neurological and morphological factors.