Changing from training twice a week to once a week might trigger small muscle growth in experienced lifters, even if the total amount of work stays the same, suggesting that changing how the training...
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
When someone who lifts regularly cuts back from twice a week to once a week but still does the same total amount of work, their muscles get a new kind of signal. This new pattern might trick the muscles into rebuilding a little more than usual, leading to a small increase in size—even though they...
Most probable mechanism
When someone who’s used to lifting twice a week switches to once a week but does the same total amount of work, their muscles get a different kind of stress signal. This change might make the muscle fibers more sensitive to the load, causing them to rebuild slightly more than they break down, leading to a small increase in size.
Reduced training frequency alters the temporal pattern of mechanical loading on muscle fibers, changing the frequency and duration of tension-induced deformation of the sarcolemma and extracellular matrix.
Altered mechanical signaling increases activation of mechanosensitive pathways such as mTORC1 and FAK, which are sensitive to the timing and spacing of mechanical stimuli rather than total load.
Enhanced mechanotransduction signaling shifts the balance of muscle protein synthesis relative to degradation, resulting in net accretion of myofibrillar proteins over time.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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Effects of equal-volume resistance training with different training frequencies in muscle size and strength in trained men
Contradicting (0)
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