Among elite judo athletes, the total amount of resistance training does not reliably determine increases in muscle size or strength; instead, how heavy the weights are and how fatigue is managed...

Pro

Against

Mechanism

Synthesis from 1 study

How it works

When elite judo athletes train hard — whether lifting heavy or light — their nerves push their muscles to work harder, which makes them stronger and bigger, even if they don’t do more total reps. This is shown in 10.1371/journal.pone.0307841, where both high-intensity methods worked equally well...

Most probable mechanism

In Simple Terms

When elite judo athletes lift weights close to their maximum effort — even if they do fewer total reps — their nervous system becomes better at activating more muscle fibers, which helps them get stronger and bigger without needing more total work. This happens whether they lift heavy until failure or lift light but still push hard, as shown in 10.1371/journal.pone.0307841.

Causal chain

High-intensity resistance training, regardless of load, increases motor unit recruitment and firing rate to maintain force output under fatigue, as observed when training to repetition failure or with high relative intensity in elite judo athletes (10.1371/journal.pone.0307841).

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Sustained high motor unit activation triggers intracellular signaling pathways (e.g., mTORC1, MAPK) that promote muscle protein synthesis and myofibrillar remodeling, leading to hypertrophy and strength gains independent of total volume (10.1371/journal.pone.0307841).

Indirect evidence only

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Community contributions welcome

Resistance training leading to repetition failure increases muscle strength and size, but not power-generation capacity in judo athletes

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2024

Contradicting (0)

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Resistance training leading to repetition failure increases muscle strength and size, but not power-generation capacity in judo athletes

Score: 60

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0307841

Similar Assertions

For male judo athletes who are already pretty advanced, lifting heavy weights for 6 weeks might build more muscle and strength than doing fast, light lifts—even if both workouts push muscles to the max.

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Among elite judo athletes, performing light-weight resistance exercises to muscle failure results in less increase in muscle size and strength compared to using heavier weights to failure or using the same light weights without going to failure, even when the total amount of work done is higher.

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For elite male judo players, doing explosive strength training with light weights—without pushing to the point of exhaustion—works just as well or even better for building muscle and strength than going until their muscles give out.

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In elite judo athletes, getting bigger muscles through resistance training does not always result in more force or power per unit of muscle mass, meaning larger muscles do not automatically make movements more efficient.

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When you lift weights more often or heavier, your strength goes up fast at first but then slows down a lot quicker than your muscles growing — so strength gets tired of extra work sooner than muscle size does.

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