20141207001224neuromuscular Adaptations To Exercise

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Neuromuscular Adaptations to Exercise

Some of the most significant and undervalued adaptations to exercise occur in the
neuromuscular system. Learn what types of training produce the most significant adaptations
here.
Physiological adaptations to high intensity short duration training types
High intensity strength, power, speed and hypertrophy training tend to cause the greatest
adaptations in the neuromuscular system because they require the greatest integration and
coordination of musculature to perform specific tasks under high loads or in an explosive fashion.
Some of the major adaptations are detailed in the following table.
Physiological adaptations to high intensity short duration training types

 Muscle size increases with hypertrophy training and to a lesser
degree strength training. This is due to an increase in the number
Fibre size and thickness of actin and myosin filaments, an increase in
myofibrils and an increase in sarcoplasm (fluid within the muscle
cell).
 Strength, hypertrophy, power and speed training modalities all
Fast – twitch fibre focus on contractions from fast twitch fibres, thus these training
behaviour types improve the specific fast twitch function being trained,
whether that is strength, speed, power, size or a combination.
 Increased recruitment of additional motor units, which respond in
a simultaneous fashion to improve force production.
Nerve–muscle  There is an increased activation of synergistic muscles to assist

connections force production for strength, power, speed and hypertrophy.
 Neural pathways linking to target muscles become more efficient

at transmitting the message (stimulus).
 The timing of contractions becomes more co-ordinated, especially
Timing of neural
with power, speed and strength training, in order to meet the force
stimulus
generation required to move loads.
 The ability to summate (fire a lot of impulses in target muscles all
Summation of at once) is improved with strength and power training because
motor units they require maximum activation of target muscles to create
maximum force.
 Effective integration of multiple body segments to create
explosive movements or lift heavy loads requires more
Neuromuscular neuromuscular involvement than any other training; hence
fatigue strength, power, speed and hypertrophy training are the best types
of training to improve the neuromuscular systems resistance to
fatigue.
Physiological adaptation to longer duration training types

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The muscular system also adapts to training types that rely on the aerobic energy system as well as
the anaerobic systems, such as muscular endurance and aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Some of
these major adaptations from these types of training include;
Physiological adaptation to longer duration training types
 The number of capillaries in the muscle increase. This enables

more O2 to be delivered to working muscles and more CO2 to be
Capillarisation
absorbed back into the blood thus improving endurance
performance.
 Muscles and liver increase their ability to store carbohydrate and fat
Substrate storage
so it can be used for ATP production more readily.
 As the duration of training lengthens slow twitch (endurance) fibres
Slow–twitch become increasingly dominant. Aerobic fitness, anaerobic fitness
fibre behaviour and muscular endurance training all improve the function of slow
twitch fibres.
 Mitochondria as you may remember from the energy system
section are the aerobic powerhouse of the muscle cell. The number
of mitochondria increases with aerobic exercise enabling more
Mitochondria
aerobic metabolism to take place. This means the muscle can
create more ATP aerobically and results in less lactate being
produced during workouts below anaerobic/lactate threshold.
Motor unit firing adaptations
With the exception of flexibility training, all the other training types improve the
effectiveness and efficiency of motor unit firing. They do this through what is known as
‘motor learning’.
As motor units send the stimulus from nerve to muscle, then quite simply the more they do
this the better they get at it, messages don’t get sent to the wrong muscles en route and
messages also get to their target muscles with increasing speed and less delay.

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Neuromuscular Adaptations to Exercise

Physiological adaptations to high intensity short duration training types

Physiological adaptations to high intensity short duration training types

Nerve–muscle  There is an increased activation of synergistic muscles to assist

 Neural pathways linking to target muscles become more efficient

Physiological adaptation to longer duration training types

Physiological adaptation to longer duration training types

 The number of capillaries in the muscle increase. This enables

Motor unit firing adaptations

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