Six weeks of isometric resistance training led to evidence of corticospinal but not reticulospinal adaptation in previously untrained adult males.
Overview
- NeuroMuscular Research Center, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
- Institute of Biosciences, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
- School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
- Department of Computing, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Monash Exercise Neuroplasticity Research Unit, Department of Physiotherapy, School of Primary and Allied Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Science, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Abstract
The latest hypothesis regarding the source of enhanced neural activation from resistance training is the reticulospinal rather than the corticospinal tract, based on invasive animal and emerging human data. The present study employed a six-week isometric resistance training intervention in a randomized controlled design to address this knowledge gap. Thirty-nine healthy, untrained males (age ~23 y, sustained contraction group n = 13, explosive contraction group n = 9, control group n = 17) underwent neuromuscular and electrophysiological testing and completed all study requirements. Maximal isometric torque (MVC) and rate of torque development (RTD) were measured during a familiarization session as well as before and after the six-week period. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to assess motor-evoked potential (MEP) area and silent period duration while subjects contracted to 10% of MVC. Loud sound (120 dB) was used to modulate MEP area and reaction time to visual stimuli during the StartReact test. Only the intervention groups demonstrated significant improvements in MVC (27%) and RTD (60%) (both P < 0.01), along with reduced MEP area (− 21%) and silent period duration (− 23%) (both P < 0.01). The sustained contraction group showed reduced modulation of reaction time and increased MEP suppression due to loud sound. Short-term resistance training seemed to reduce cortical inhibition and corticospinal excitability in both training groups. The study showed conflicting changes in measures purported to evaluate reticulospinal functioning. It is recommended to examine different forms of resistance training and longer training exposure in future.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
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Data
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- data.mendeley.com/
research-data , at Mendeley Data; found in “Data availability” - doi:10.17632/
f5hc9nfmbz.1 , at the source; found in “Data availability”
Data availability
The data used in this article is freely available from the Mendeley Data Repository (https://
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Versions
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Version 3, 28 September 2026
- Publisher: n/a → Springer Science+Business Media
Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 7 authors, 4 keywords, 14 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 41 references.
Cite
This paper
Walker, S., Keogh, K. E. J., Tanel, M., Baker, A. S. W., Baker, A. M. E., Kidgell, D. J., & Baker, S. N. (2026). Six weeks of isometric resistance training led to evidence of corticospinal but not reticulospinal adaptation in previously untrained adult males. Experimental brain research, 244(10), 191. https://
BibTeX
@article{walker2026six,
author = {Walker, Simon and Keogh, Katherine E J and Tanel, Meghan and Baker, Aidan S W and Baker, Anne M E and Kidgell, Dawson J and Baker, Stuart N},
title = {{Six weeks of isometric resistance training led to evidence of corticospinal but not reticulospinal adaptation in previously untrained adult males}},
journal = {Experimental brain research},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
volume = {244},
number = {10},
pages = {191},
publisher = {Springer Science+Business Media},
issn = {0014-4819},
doi = {10.1007/
url = {https://
pmid = {42690424},
pmcid = {PMC13541792}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Walker, Simon
AU - Keogh, Katherine E J
AU - Tanel, Meghan
AU - Baker, Aidan S W
AU - Baker, Anne M E
AU - Kidgell, Dawson J
AU - Baker, Stuart N
TI - Six weeks of isometric resistance training led to evidence of corticospinal but not reticulospinal adaptation in previously untrained adult males
T2 - Experimental brain research
J2 - Exp Brain Res
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 244
IS - 10
SP - 191
SN - 0014-4819
PB - Springer Science+Business Media
DO - 10.1007/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
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