Resistance Training Performed With Single and Multiple Sets Induces Similar Improvements in Muscular Strength, Muscle Mass, Muscle Quality, and IGF-1 in Older Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Cunha PM, Nunes JP, Tomeleri CM, Nascimento MA, Schoenfeld BJ, Antunes M, Gobbo LA, Teixeira D, and Cyrino ES. Resistance training performed with single and multiple sets induces similar improvements in muscular strength, muscle mass, muscle quality, and IGF-1 in older women: A randomized controlled trial. J Strength Cond Res 34(4): 1008–1016, 2020—The purpose of this study was to compare the effects between single set vs. multiple sets of resistance training (RT) on measures of muscular strength, muscle mass, muscle quality (MQ), and insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in untrained healthy older women. Sixty-two older women were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 groups: single-set RT (SS, n = 21), multiple-sets RT (MS, n = 20), or nontraining control (CG, n = 21). Both training groups performed RT for 12 weeks, using 8 exercises of 10–15 repetitions maximum for each exercise. The SS group performed only 1 set per exercise, whereas MS performed 3 sets. Anthropometry, muscle strength (1RM tests), lean soft tissue (LST), and MQ from upper limbs (UL) and lower limbs (LL), and IGF-1 were measured before and after training. Both training groups showed significant pre-training to post-training increases for UL1RM (SS: 37.1%, MS: 27.3%, CG: −3.0%), LL1RM (SS: 16.3%, MS: 21.7%, CG: −0.7%), ULLST (SS: 7.8%, MS: 8.8%, CG: −1.1%), LLLST (SS: 5.6%, MS: 6.3%, CG: −0.8%), upper-limb muscle quality (SS: 25.2%, MS: 16.7%, CG: −0.2%), lower-limb muscle quality (SS: 10.5%, MS: 1...
Source: Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research - Category: Sports Medicine Tags: Original Research Source Type: research