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Review
. 2022 Jul 30;8(1):99.
doi: 10.1186/s40798-022-00492-1.

Appropriate Reporting of Exercise Variables in Resistance Training Protocols: Much more than Load and Number of Repetitions

Giuseppe Coratella  1
Affiliations
Review

Appropriate Reporting of Exercise Variables in Resistance Training Protocols: Much more than Load and Number of Repetitions

Giuseppe Coratella. Sports Med Open. .

Abstract

Manipulating resistance training variables is crucial to plan the induced stimuli correctly. When reporting the exercise variables in resistance training protocols, sports scientists and practitioners often refer to the load lifted and the total number of repetitions. The present conceptual review explores all within-exercise variables that may influence the strength and hypertrophic gains, and the changes in muscle architecture. Together with the (1) load and (2) the number of repetitions, (3) performing repetitions to failure or not to failure, (4) the displacement of the load or the range of movement (full or partial), (5) the portion of the partial movement to identify the muscle length at which the exercise is performed, (6) the total time under tension, the duration of each phase and the position of the two isometric phases, (7) whether the concentric, eccentric or concentric-eccentric phase is performed, (8) the use of internal or external focus and (9) the inter-set rest may all have repercussions on the adaptations induced by each resistance exercise. Manipulating one or more variable allows to increase, equalize or decrease the stimuli related to each exercise. Sports scientists and practitioners are invited to list all aforementioned variables for each exercise when reporting resistance training protocols.

Keywords: Eccentric; Hypertrophy; Inter-set rest; Muscle architecture; Muscle-mind connection; Range of movement; Strength; Strength training; Time under tension; Weight training.

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Conflict of interest statement

Giuseppe Coratella declares that he has no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
A checklist of the variables to be reported for each exercise within the resistance training protocols
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
A more comprehensive approach to the calculation of the volume of a single exercise. The variables in green determine the volume, provided that the variables in red are fixed
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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