To determine the influence of age and resistance exercise on myostatin pathway-related genes, younger (n = 10; 28 ± 5 years) and older (n = 10; 68 ± 6 years) men underwent four testing conditions (T1-T4). A baseline (T1) muscle sample was obtained, whereas the second and third biopsies were obtained 48 hours following the first and second training sessions (T2, T3), and a final biopsy was taken 24 hours following T3. The training sessions consisted of 3 sets of 10 repetitions (80% of one repetition maximum) on leg press, hack squat, and leg extension exercises. Follistatin (FST) messenger RNA was greater in older compared with younger men at T1 and T2 (p < .05). Follistatin-like 3 (FSTL3) messenger RNA was greater in older compared with younger men at T1 and T4 (p < .05). In older men, there was a significant decrease in myostatin (MSTN) messenger RNA at T4 (p < .05). Older men contained less active (Ser-425 phosphorylated) SMAD3 (p-SMAD3) protein than younger men at T3 and T4 (p < .05).Although it is well known that younger individuals possess a greater hypertrophic potential to resistance exercise, it appears that older individuals may paradoxically possess a more favorable resistance exercise response regarding myostatin pathway-related genes and a protein marker of pathway activity. Future research is warranted to examine the physiological significance of this age-dependent mechanism.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of heavy-resistance strength training on measures of bench press power (BPP) using absolute loads and seated shot put (SSP) performance. Twenty-four college men were measured for 1-RM bench press, BPP, and SSP before and after weight training twice weekly for 12 weeks. BPP was measured with free weights using a digital timing system and randomly assigned loads equivalent to 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70% and 80% of the 1-RM. Post-training tests used the same absolute loads as during the pre-training test to assess BPP. Following training BPP increased significantly at each load, shifting the power curve upward by an average of 13.6%. The 1-RM bench press increased significantly by 9.1%, but the SSP increased nonsignificantly by only 1.8%. Peak power was produced at approximately 40-50% of the 1-RM before and after training. Changes in SSP distance were nonsignificantly correlated (r=0.27-0.20) with the increases in BPP. Resistance training shifts the power curve in a positive direction when the measurements are determined with absolute loads, but the increased power may not be transferred to an absolute performance task like the SSP.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract