Muscle activation and intermuscular coordination adaptations to early strength training during maximal force production.
Overview
- Faculty of Human Kinetics, Neuromuscular Research Lab, Lisbon, Portugal
- Faculty of Human Kinetics, CIPER, Lisbon, Portugal
- Egas Moniz Centre for Interdisciplinary Research (CiiEM), Egas Moniz Health School of Science, Monte da Caparica, Portugal
- Faculty of Human Kinetics, SpertLab, Lisbon, Portugal
Abstract
Previously untrained individuals tend to increase maximal and rapid strength during the initial resistance training stages. Muscle activation and coordination are neural mechanisms contributing to the increased mechanical output. However, how the force production characteristics are accompanied by changes in activation of agonist muscles as well as coordination of muscles with different functional roles is not fully understood. This study investigated the time course of adaptations following 6 weeks of resistance training, evaluating every two weeks a leg-press isometric maximum voluntary contraction. Peak force (PF), rate of force development (RFD), rate of EMG rise (RER) of the agonist muscles and intermuscular coherence between synergist or antagonist pairs of muscles were evaluated. In result of a dynamic squat program, the maximal and rapid leg-press isometric force increased after the 6-week period (p = 0.011 and p = 0.015, respectively), although improvements at specific intervals of RFD at specific time points were observed. Regarding knee extensor activation, generally decreased RER was observed only for rectus femoris and not for the monoarticular portions of quadriceps. Additionally, intermuscular coherence analysis revealed increased coupling between rectus femoris and the monoarticular portions of quadriceps after training, and adaptations between agonist muscles acting in different joints as well as between agonist and antagonist muscle at specific time points were observed concerning specific bands. This is the first study to characterize the time course of intermuscular coordination adaptations during the early phase of strength training in previously untrained individuals, bringing new insights into the neural mechanisms of muscle recruitment following resistance training in what concerns to coordinative strategies in the control of muscles with different functional roles.
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Code
The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.
Tracing map
A tracing map links a paper to the code its authors published: this paper has none, so it has no map.
Data
Datasets cited
- zenodo:18630339, at Zenodo; found in “Data Availability”
Data Availability
We confirm that the manuscript reports all summary statistics and inferential outcomes used to support the study findings. The underlying de-identified individual-level data required to reproduce the reported analyses (i.e., values underlying means, standard deviations, and figures) are available from the following Zenodo link: https://
Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.
Versions
The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.
Version 1, 29 September 2026: the first record
Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 10 MeSH terms, 1 funder, 120 references.
Cite
This paper
Santos, P. D. G., Vaz, J. R., Gomes, M., Infante, J., & Pezarat-Correia, P. (2026). Muscle activation and intermuscular coordination adaptations to early strength training during maximal force production. PloS one, 21(4), e0346417. https://
BibTeX
@article{santos2026muscl
author = {Santos, Paulo D. G. and Vaz, João R. and Gomes, Miguel and Infante, Jorge and Pezarat-Correia, Pedro},
title = {{Muscle activation and intermuscular coordination adaptations to early strength training during maximal force production}},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2026},
month = apr,
volume = {21},
number = {4},
pages = {e0346417},
publisher = {PLOS},
issn = {1932-6203},
doi = {10.1371/
url = {https://
pmid = {41945585},
pmcid = {PMC13056202}
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
AU - Santos, Paulo D. G.
AU - Vaz, João R.
AU - Gomes, Miguel
AU - Infante, Jorge
AU - Pezarat-Correia, Pedro
TI - Muscle activation and intermuscular coordination adaptations to early strength training during maximal force production
T2 - PloS one
J2 - PLoS One
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/
VL - 21
IS - 4
SP - e0346417
SN - 1932-6203
PB - PLOS
DO - 10.1371/
UR - https://
LA - en
ER -
CSL-JSON
{
"id": "10.1371/
"type": "article-journal",
"title": "Muscle activation and intermuscular coordination adaptations to early strength training during maximal force production",
"container-title": "PloS one",
"author": [
{
"family": "Santos",
"given": "Paulo D. G."
},
{
"family": "Vaz",
"given": "João R."
},
{
"family": "Gomes",
"given": "Miguel"
},
{
"family": "Infante",
"given": "Jorge"
},
{
"family": "Pezarat-Correia",
"given": "Pedro"
}
],
"container-title-short":
"volume": "21",
"issue": "4",
"page": "e0346417",
"DOI": "10.1371/
"PMID": "41945585",
"PMCID": "PMC13056202",
"ISSN": "1932-6203",
"publisher": "PLOS",
"URL": "https://
"language": "en",
"issued": {
"date-parts": [
[
2026,
4,
7
]
]
}
}
Similar papers
The papers with a page that share the most with this one: the tools found in their code, their categories, datasets, cited references and authors, the rarest counting most.
- [1] doi:10.1186/s12984-026-02041-3 [code]
- Mental tasks induce common modulations of oscillations in cortex and spinal cord.Journal: Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn common: other, 6 references
- [2] doi:10.3389/fnetp.2026.1784539 [code]
- The amplitude-amplitude cross-frequency coupling method: a step-by-step guide to quantifying physiological network interactions.Journal: Frontiers in network physiologyIn common: 4 references
- [3] doi:10.1007/s00221-026-07391-x
- Six weeks of isometric resistance training led to evidence of corticospinal but not reticulospinal adaptation in previously untrained adult males.Journal: Experimental brain researchIn common: other, 3 references
- [4] doi:10.1007/s00421-026-06239-0
- Differential changes in the effective neural drive following new motor skill acquisition between vastus lateralis and medialis.Journal: European journal of applied physiologyIn common: other, 3 references
- [5] doi:10.1038/s41597-026-07242-y [code]
- High-Density EEG and Multi-Muscle EMG Dataset during Object Prehension with a sensorized Grasping Box in Humans.Journal: Scientific dataIn common: other, 3 references
- [6] doi:10.1126/sciadv.aee9425 [code]
- Probabilistic inference of homonymous and heteronymous recurrent inhibition in human muscles from large-scale motor neuron recordings.Journal: Science advancesIn common: 3 references
- [7] doi:10.1002/advs.77165
- Perceived Time Shapes Physical Fatigue Accumulation and Its Neural Oscillatory Correlates.Journal: Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)In common: other, 2 references
- [8] doi:10.1038/s41598-026-45549-3
- Effects of single-session anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on cognitive and motor performance in athletes and healthy adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal: Scientific reportsIn common: other, 1 reference
- [9] doi:10.1113/jp290164 [code]
- Improved subjective sleep quality in older adults by enhancing the GABAergic system in the sensorimotor cortex.Journal: The Journal of physiologyIn common: other, 1 reference
- [10] doi:10.1038/s41598-026-59979-6
- From muscles to motion: the role of sensor layout and physiological factors in hand motion decoding.Journal: Scientific reportsIn common: other, 1 reference
Contribute
The authors of this paper can claim it, correct its record and validate its tracing map, and the maintainers of its code (its owner, or a public member of its organization) correct what it says of their repository; anyone signed in can ask for its removal. Every request goes to OSCR's own machine, which answers it; your account page follows them.
Sign in with ORCID to claim this paper as one of its authors, correct its record or validate its tracing map: when the paper's metadata lists your ORCID iD, you are recognized at once. Maintainers of its code: sign in with GitHub, then claim the repository on your account page.
Claim this paper
Correct its record
Say what each link of this record is, remove the ones that are not the paper's, add the ones that are missing. The correction becomes a new version of the record, in its Versions section.
Request its removal
To ask OSCR to remove this record, the copies of its authors' scripts or its tracing map, use the removal request page: signed in, you say who you are, what to remove and why, then review and confirm the request. Published rules decide every request (how).
Discussion, reproductions, activity
Discussion: questions and error reports about this paper and its code, from signed-in readers and its authors. It opens with sign-in.
Reproductions: reports from readers who ran the authors' code: what they reproduced, with which environment, commit and data. It opens with sign-in.
Activity: what happens around this paper: new versions of its record, its map's validation, discussions and reproductions. It opens with sign-in.