Effects of Heavy Duty versus traditional resistance training on thigh muscle cross-sectional area

Heavy Duty resistance training (HD) is a new method that might improve muscle strength and hypertrophy. The effect of this method on thigh muscle hypertrophy is not well-known. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of HD versus traditional resistance training (TRT) on thigh muscle cross-sectional area (CSA).

Twenty untrained healthy men (age: 25.6 ± 2.0 mean ± SD) volunteered to participate in this study. The subjects were divided into HD group (n=10) or TRT group (n=10) randomly. The subjects in HD and TRT executed five resistance exercises selected to stress the thigh muscle groups in the following order: leg press, squat, leg extension, prone leg curl, and dead lift. HD and TRT consisted of 50-60 min of station weight training per day, 3 days a week, for 8 weeks. TRT training was performed in 5 stations and included 4 sets with 6-12 maximal repetitions at 70-80% of 1-RM in each station with 2-3 minute of rest. HD training was performed in 5 stations and included 4 sets with 6-10 maximal repetitions at 70% of 1-RM in each station with 10 second of rest. Thigh muscle CSA and grow hormone (GH) were measured before and after the intervention.

The results showed that maximum strength in each station was increased after HD and TRT (P<0.05). Thigh muscle CSA also was increased after HD and TRT; however the increase in thigh muscle CSA was higher in HD than TRT. For GH no significant differences were observed after the HD and TRT methods.

In summary, HD method is better than TRT method for thigh muscle CSA however no significant differences were found for GH level after these resistance training methods.