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...

Pro

Against

Mechanism

Synthesis from 1 study

How it works

When judo athletes train to make their muscles bigger and stronger in static holds, the muscles grow but the nerves don’t get better at turning them on fast — so the extra muscle doesn’t make them more powerful relative to its size (10.1371/journal.pone.0307841).

Most probable mechanism

In Simple Terms

When judo athletes train to make their muscles bigger and stronger in static holds, the muscles grow larger but the nerves controlling them don’t get better at activating those muscles quickly or efficiently — so even though the muscles are bigger, they don’t produce more power relative to their size (10.1371/journal.pone.0307841).

Causal chain

Resistance training to repetition failure increases muscle cross-sectional area and isometric strength without proportional increases in rate of force development or power output (10.1371/journal.pone.0307841)

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Neural adaptations such as motor unit recruitment, firing rate, and synchronization remain unchanged despite hypertrophy, resulting in no improvement in the efficiency of force production per unit of muscle mass (10.1371/journal.pone.0307841)

Supported by evidence

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

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