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In spite of the well-known benefits that have been shown, few studies have looked at the practical applications of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on athletic performance. This study investigated the effects of a HIIT program compared to traditional continuous endurance exercise training. 24 hockey players were randomly assigned to either a continuous or high-intensity interval group during a 4-week training program. The interval group (IG) was involved in a periodized HIIT program. The continuous group (CG) performed moderate intensity cycling for 45-60 min at an intensity that was 65% of their calculated heart rate reserve. Body composition, muscle thickness, anaerobic power, and on-ice measures were assessed pre- and post-training. Muscle thickness was significantly greater in IG (p=0.01) when compared to CG. The IG had greater values for both ∆ peak power (p<0.003) and ∆ mean power (p<0.02). Additionally, IG demonstrated a faster ∆ sprint (p<0.02) and a trend (p=0.08) for faster ∆ endurance test time to completion for IG. These results indicate that hockey players may utilize short-term HIIT to elicit positive effects in muscle thickness, power and on-ice performance.

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The activation of competing intracellular pathways has been proposed to explain the reduced training adaptations after concurrent strength and endurance exercises (CE). The present study investigated the acute effects of CE, strength exercises (SE), and endurance exercises (EE) on phosphorylated/total ratios of selected AMPK and Akt/mTOR/p70(S6K1) pathway proteins in rats. Six animals per exercise group were killed immediately (0 h) and 2 h after each exercise mode. In addition, 6 animals in a non-exercised condition (NE) were killed on the same day and under the same conditions. The levels of AMPK, phospho-Thr(172)AMPK (p-AMPK), Akt, phospho-Ser(473)Akt (p-Akt), p70(S6K1), phospho-Thr(389)-p70(S6K1) (p-p70(S6K1)), mTOR, phospho-Ser(2448)mTOR (p-mTOR), and phospho-Thr(1462)-TSC2 (p-TSC2) expression were evaluated by immunoblotting in total plantaris muscle extracts. The only significant difference detected was an increase (i.e., 87%) in Akt phosphorylated/total ratio in the CE group 2 h after exercise compared to the NE group (P = 0.002). There were no changes in AMPK, TSC2, mTOR, or p70(S6K1) ratios when the exercise modes were compared to the NE condition (P ≥ 0.05). In conclusion, our data suggest that low-intensity and low-volume CE might not blunt the training-induced adaptations, since it did not activate competing intracellular pathways in an acute bout of strength and endurance exercises in rat skeletal muscle.

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This study investigated the chronic effects of concurrent training (CT) on morphological and molecular adaptations. 37 men (age=23.7±5.5 year) were divided into 4 groups: interval (IT), strength (ST) and concurrent (CT) training and a control group (C) and underwent 8 weeks of training. Maximum strength (1RM) and muscle cross-sectional area (CSA) were evaluated before and after training. Muscle samples were obtained before the training program and 48 h after the last training session. VO2max improved in 5±0.95% and 15±1.3% (pre- to post-test) in groups CT and IT, respectively, when compared to C. Time to exhaustion (TE) improved from pre- to post-test when compared to C (CT=6.1±0.58%; IT=8.3±0.88%; ST=3.2±0.66%). 1RM increased from pre-to post-test only in ST and CT groups (ST=18.5±3.16%; CT=17.6±3.01%). Similarly, ST and CT groups increased quadriceps CSA from pre-to post-test (6.2±1.4%; 7.8±1.66%). The p70S6K1 total protein content increased after CT. The ST group showed increased Akt phosphorylation at Ser473 (45.0±3.3%) whereas AMPK phosphorylation at Thr172 increased only in IT group, (100±17.6%). In summary, our data suggest that despite the differences in molecular adaptations between training regimens, CT did not blunt muscle strength and hypertrophy increments when compared with ST.

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This study performed an exploratory analysis of the anthropometrical and morphological muscle variables related to the one-repetition maximum (1RM) performance. In addition, the capacity of these variables to predict the force production was analyzed. 50 active males were submitted to the experimental procedures: vastus lateralis muscle biopsy, quadriceps magnetic resonance imaging, body mass assessment and 1RM test in the leg-press exercise. K-means cluster analysis was performed after obtaining the body mass, sum of the left and right quadriceps muscle cross-sectional area (∑CSA), percentage of the type II fibers and the 1RM performance. The number of clusters was defined a priori and then were labeled as high strength performance (HSP1RM) group and low strength performance (LSP1RM) group. Stepwise multiple regressions were performed by means of body mass, ∑CSA, percentage of the type II fibers and clusters as predictors' variables and 1RM performance as response variable. The clusters mean ± SD were: 292.8 ± 52.1 kg, 84.7 ± 17.9 kg, 19249.7 ± 1645.5 mm(2) and 50.8 ± 7.2% for the HSP1RM and 254.0 ± 51.1 kg, 69.2 ± 8.1 kg, 15483.1 ± 1104.8mm(2) and 51.7 ± 6.2%, for the LSP1RM in the 1RM, body mass, ∑CSA and muscle fiber type II percentage, respectively. The most important variable in the clusters division was the ∑CSA. In addition, the ∑CSA and muscle fiber type II percentage explained the variance in the 1RM performance (Adj R2=0.35, p=0.0001) for all participants and for the LSP1RM (Adj R2=0.25, p=0.002). For the HSP1RM, only the ∑CSA was entered in the model and showed the highest capacity to explain the variance in the 1RM performance (Adj R2=0.38, p=0.01). As a conclusion, the muscle CSA was the most relevant variable to predict force production in individuals with no strength training background.

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