Can Resistance Training-Induced Skeletal Muscle Growth Improve Local Muscular Endurance?

Abstract

Skeletal muscle growth occurs in response to training with a wide range of loads, despite traditionally being linked to high-load resistance training and maximal strength development. A body of literature suggests that with lower loads, training near fatigue/task failure is an important stimulus for muscle growth. We consider that training-induced adaptations often improve performance in the specific activity that stimulated them (e.g., increased cardiac output and endurance exercise). Accordingly, we explore skeletal muscle growth as a compensatory adaptation to intense fatiguing exercise, possibly serving a functional role in maintaining/prolonging force generation during disruptive fatigue-related processes. Our aims were to: (1) contextualize a possible relationship between training-induced skeletal muscle growth and fatigue resistance given the common framing of muscle growth driving greater strength, (2) examine previous resistance training studies assessing both muscle growth and endurance to evaluate whether their changes coincide with one another, and (3) consider speculatively the physiological condition(s) in which training-induced muscle growth could contribute to local muscular endurance. We highlight that absolute muscular endurance and muscle growth frequently improve together, discuss potential mechanisms (e.g., increased myofilament content, enhanced oxygen delivery, and metabolic adaptations), and consider the critical power/force framework to identify loading conditions where training-induced growth may have beneficial effects. Although muscle growth and absolute muscular endurance adaptations often co-occur, no causal relationship can currently be established between them. For example, neural and metabolic changes inherent to resistance training may be driving increased endurance. Future research clarifying this relationship could refine resistance training approaches and broaden our understanding of skeletal muscle growth's functional role.