1: J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2003 Jun;43(2):243-9. Related Articles, Links
A single set of low intensity resistance exercise immediately following high intensity resistance exercise stimulates growth hormone secretion in men.
Goto K, Sato K, Takamatsu K.
Doctoral Program in Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.
AIM: The purpose of the present study was to examine the effects of an additional set immediately following high intensity resistance exercise on growth hormone (GH) response. METHODS: Subjects (n=8) performed 4 resistance exercise protocols (bilateral knee extension exercise) on separate days. The protocols were categorized into 2 types of protocol, namely "Strength-up type (S-type)" and "Combination type (Combi-type)". The S-type was resistance exercise which consisted of 5 sets at 90% of 1 repetition maximum (RM) with 3-min rest periods between sets, whereas the Combi-type is a training protocol which adds an additional set (either 50% of 1 RM [C50-type], 70% of 1 RM [C70-type] or 90% of 1 RM [C90-type]) to the S-type. Serum GH concentration and blood lactate concentration were determined pre-exercise and at 0-60 min postexercise. Relative changes in thigh girth and maximal unilateral isometric strength were determined pre-exercise and immediately postexercise. RESULTS: The increasing values of GH concentration (DGH) in the S-type was the lowest of all protocols. On the other hand, DGH in the C50-type showed a significantly (p<0.05) higher increase than in the S-type and C90-type, and a relatively higher increase than in the C70-type. CONCLUSION: These results suggests that a high intensity, low volume training protocol to induce neural adaptation resulted in little GH response, but GH secretion was increased by performing a single set of low intensity resistance exercise at the end of a series of high intensity resistance sets.
They do good work in Tsukuba - my home away from home.
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Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
Originally posted by kuri: Interesting. Have you tried this TS?
They do good work in Tsukuba - my home away from home.
I haven't tried this (yet). There was an article in the latest edition of the NSCA's Strength and Conditioning Journal that spoke of this study. I wonder if bryanc will debunk this study for us?
I'll say that just b/c growth hormone increases doesn't mean that it will increase muscle growth and fat oxidation. There are different "types" of growth hormone and different kinds interact differently with receptor sites or have different functions. That's pretty crude. But I heard a talk by Bill Kraemer last year about growth hormone and he basically said increases in GH may not mean anything for body comp changes.
Might be other benefits for a "back-off" set, though.
What Adam said, plus the fact that we don't know whether the subjects returned to baseline GH levels before each stimulus session. While the investigators measured _change_ in GH levels, I'm not sure whether we know that change is linear and independent of pre-exercise levels.
We don't have a subscription to J Sports Med Phys Fitness, so I'm just going off the abstract.
I've used back-off sets in training but for the purposes of strength-endurance.
I can't contribute changes in body comp to that.
and I've spent alot of time in Tsukuba and never have seen any huge doods there
__________________
Working "hard," or the perception of working hard, doesn't really mean anything. Sweating, vomiting, and breathing hard could be a good workout or a tropical disease kicking in.-Dan John
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