Specificity of Early Motor Unit Adaptations with Resistive Exercise Training

After exposure of the human body to resistive exercise, the force-generation capacity of the trained muscles increases significantly. Despite decades of research, the neural and muscular stimuli that initiate these changes in muscle force are not yet fully understood. The study of these adaptations is further complicated by the fact that the changes may be partly specific to the training task. For example, short-term strength training does not always influence the neural drive to muscles during the early phase (<100 ms) of force development in rapid isometric contractions. Here we discuss some of the studies that have investigated neuromuscular adaptations underlying changes in maximal force and rate of force development produced by different strength training interventions, with a focus on changes observed at the level of spinal motor neurons. We discuss the different motor unit adjustments needed to increase force or speed, and the specificity of some of the adaptations elicited by differences in the training tasks.