Low exercise-induced plasma adrenaline (A) responses have been reported in
resistance-trained individuals. In the study reported here, we investigated
the interaction between strength gain and neural adaptation of the muscles
, and the plasma A response in eight healthy men during a short-term resist
ance-training period. The subjects performed 5 resistance exercises (E1-E5)
, consisting of 6 sets of 12 bilateral leg extensions performed at a 50% lo
ad, and with 2 days rest in between. Average electromyographic (EMG) signal
amplitude was recorded before and after the exercises, from the knee exten
sor muscles in isometric maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) as well as dur
ing the exercises (aEMG(max) and aEMG(exerc) respectively). Total oxygen co
nsumed during the exercises ((V)over dot O-2tot) was also measured. All of
the exercises were exhaustive and caused significant decreases in MVC (34-3
6%, P < 0.001). As expected, the concentric one-repetition maximum (I-RM),
MVC and aEMG(max) were all higher before the last exercise (E5) than before
the first exercise (E1: 7, 9 and 19%, respectively, P < 0.05). In addition
, in E5 the aEMG(exerc):load and (V)over dot O-2tot:load ratios were lower
than in El (-5 and -14%, P < 0.05), indicating enhanced efficiency of the m
uscle contractions, However, the post-exercise plasma noradrenaline (NA) an
d A were not different in these two exercises [mean (SD) 10.2 (3.8) nmol l(
-1) vs 11.3 (6.0) nmol . l(-1), ns, and 1.2 (1.0) nmol . l(-1) vs 1.9 (1.1)
nmol . l(-1), ns, respectively]. However, although NA increased similarly
in every exercise (P ( 0.01), the increase in A reached the level of statis
tical significance only in E1 (P < 0.05). The post-exercise A was also alre
ady lower in E2 [0.7 (0.7) nmol . l(-1), P < 0.05) than in E1, despite the
higher post-exercise blood lactate concentration than in the other exercise
s [9.4 (1.1) mmol l(-1), P < 0.05]. Thus, the results suggest that the obse
rved attenuation in the A response can not be explained by reduced exercise
-induced strain due to the strength gain and neural adaptation of the muscl
es. Correlation analysis actually revealed that those individuals who had t
he highest strength gain during the training period even tended to have an
increased post-exercise A concentration in the last exercise as compared to
first one (r = 0.76, P < 0.05).