Department of Health, Exercise Science, and Recreation Management. Kevser Ermin Applied Physiology Laboratory, The University of Mississippi, University, United States of America.
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, United States of America.
Physiol Meas. 2024 Sep 4;45(8). doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/ad7348.
Progressive overload describes the gradual increase of stress placed on the body during exercise training, and is often quantified (i.e. in resistance training studies) through increases in total training volume (i.e. sets × repetitions × load) from the first to final week of the exercise training intervention. Within the literature, it has become increasingly common for authors to discuss skeletal muscle growth adaptations in the context of increases in total training volume (i.e. the magnitude progression in total training volume). The present manuscript discusses a physiological rationale for progressive overload and then explains why, in our opinion, quantifying the progression of total training volume within research investigations tells very little about muscle growth adaptations to resistance training. Our opinion is based on the following research findings: (1) a noncausal connection between increases in total training volume (i.e. progressively overloading the resistance exercise stimulus) and increases in skeletal muscle size; (2) similar changes in total training volume may not always produce similar increases in muscle size; and (3) the ability to exercise more and consequently amass larger increases in total training volume may not inherently produce more skeletal muscle growth. The methodology of quantifying changes in total training volume may therefore provide a means through which researchers can mathematically determine the total amount of external 'work' performed within a resistance training study. It may not, however, always explain muscle growth adaptations.
渐进性超负荷描述了在运动训练过程中，身体承受的压力逐渐增加，通常通过从运动训练干预的第一周到最后一周总训练量（即组数×重复次数×负荷）的增加来量化（例如在抗阻训练研究中）。在文献中，作者越来越多地在总训练量增加的背景下讨论骨骼肌生长适应，即总训练量的幅度进展。本文档讨论了渐进性超负荷的生理学原理，然后解释了为什么我们认为在研究中量化总训练量的进展几乎不能说明抗阻训练对肌肉生长适应的影响。我们的观点基于以下研究发现：（1）总训练量增加（即逐渐增加抗阻运动刺激）与骨骼肌大小增加之间没有因果关系；（2）总训练量的相似变化不一定总是导致肌肉大小的相似增加；（3）能够进行更多运动并因此积累更大的总训练量增加并不一定内在地产生更多的骨骼肌生长。因此，量化总训练量变化的方法可能提供了一种手段，通过该手段，研究人员可以在抗阻训练研究中从数学上确定外部“工作”的总量。然而，它并不总是能解释肌肉生长适应。
