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Abstract

Resistance training is a powerful stimulus that is known to induce a myriad of positive effects in humans. A popular result desired by athletes is to increase muscle mass. However, the existing literature on resistance training and muscular hypertrophy focuses on whole body lean mass changes. The body of work which elucidate the effect of training on segmental lean mass is less documented. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a short-term resistance training intervention on segmental lean mass in previously untrained college aged women. METHODS: 22 college aged women (age: 21 ± 4) volunteered to participate in this study. Participants were randomly allocated into either training (n = 9) or control (n = 13) groups. Participants in the training group completed 16 lower body resistance training sessions over 8 weeks. The training intervention including flywheel deadlift, front squat, leg press, and leg extension, which was closely observed by the research team. During each training session the participant completed 4 sets of 8-10 reptations of each exercise. On the fourth set of front squat and leg extension the exercise was performed until the participant had 2 reptations in reserve. The external load used during exercise was adjusted to keep their reptations between 8-10 reptations. Control groups were asked to maintain habitual physical activity and dietary habits. All participants were assessed in the laboratory 5 times throughout the study, via a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Using custom regions-of-interest, the right thigh was segmented prior to all analyses. The region of interest was selected based upon the participants boney landmarks around the femoral neck and tibiofemoral contact point of the knee joint. Specifically, the segment started at the anterior superior iliac spine (ASIS), extending inferomedially following the lateral ilium and ischium and extending down to the tibiofemoral joint. A linear mixed-effect model (LME) was employed, with group (control, training), time (Pre, mid1, mid2, mid3, Post), and group × time interaction as fixed effects and participants as random intercepts. RESULTS: Results of the LME model revealed a significant group × time interaction (62.5 grams, t = 2.9, p = 0.004), indicating that lean mass increased at a greater rate in the training compared to control group. CONCLUSION: These results suggest the rate of change was approximately 62.5 g per assessment interval in the training group after just 8 weeks of training. Further research needs to be conducted to evaluate the effects of resistance training on segmental body composition.

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