Effect of training status on muscle excitation and neuromuscular fatigue with resistance exercise with and without blood flow restriction in young men

Authors

• Brett H. Davis, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
• Guillaume Spielmann, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
• Neil Johannsen, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
• Victoria Fairchild, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
• Timothy D. Allerton, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
• Brian A. Irving, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-20-2025

Publication Title

Physiological Reports

Abstract

This study compared muscle (vastus lateralis) excitation, muscle activation, and neuromuscular fatigue in response to low-load resistance exercise with blood flow restriction (LLBFR), medium-load resistance exercise with blood flow restriction (MLBFR), and high-load resistance exercise (HLRE) in resistance-trained (RT; n = 15) and untrained (UT; n = 14) college-aged males. Muscle excitation and activation were measured using surface electromyography (sEMG) and defined as the maximal root mean square amplitudes (RMS AMP) and the integrated area under the sEMG curve (iEMG) per repetition. Neuromuscular fatigue was defined as the reduction in peak torque measured during the postexercise knee extensor maximal isometric contractions (MVIC) relative to the pre-exercise MVIC. The LLBFR sessions showed 23.7% (p < 0.01) lower relative muscle excitation than the MLBFR and 26.7% (p < 0.001) lower than the HLRE. In contrast, LLBFR sessions showed 38.1% (p < 0.001) higher total muscle activation than the MLBFR and 19.3% (p < 0.05) higher than the HLRE. There were no differences between the RT and UT groups for percent change in peak torque or the RMS AMP measured during the knee extensor MVICs following the three exercise treatments (p > 0.05). However, the peak torque and maximal RMS amplitudes were higher in the RT group than in the UT group measured during the pre-exercise MVICs. Our data suggest that the LLBFR led to greater total muscle activation than MLBFR and HLRE despite lower relative muscle excitation independent of training status in our college-aged males.

First Page

1

Last Page

16

DOI

10.14814/phy2.70274

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Davis, Brett H.; Spielmann, Guillaume; Johannsen, Neil; Fairchild, Victoria; Allerton, Timothy D.; and Irving, Brian A., "Effect of training status on muscle excitation and neuromuscular fatigue with resistance exercise with and without blood flow restriction in young men" (2025). LSU-LCMC Cancer Center Faculty Publications. 136.
https://digitalscholar.lsuhsc.edu/llcc_facpubs/136
10.14814/phy2.70274