Neuromuscular adaptations during bilateral versus unilateral strength training in middle‐aged and elderly men and women

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Abstract
Twelve middle‐aged men and 12 middle‐aged women in the 50‐year‐old age group (M50; range 44–57 years; W50; 43–57), and 12 elderly men and 12 elderly women in the 70‐year‐old age group (M70; 59–75; W70; 62–75) volunteered as subjects in order to examine effects of 12‐week progressive heavy resistance strength training on electromyographic activity (EMG), muscle cross‐sectional area (CSA) of the quadriceps femoris and maximal concentric force in a one repetition maximum (1 RM) test of the knee extensor muscles. One half of the subjects in each group performed the knee extension (and flexion) exercises only bilaterally (BIL), while another half performed the exercises only unilaterally (UNIL). None of the subject groups demonstrated statistically significant changes in any of the 1 RM values during the 2 week control period with no training (between week ‐2 and 0) preceding the actual experimental training. However, the 12‐week training resulted in increases (PPPPPPPPPPPPPP<0.001) recorded for the CSA in all BIL and UNIL trained subjects did not differ significantly from each others. The present findings suggest that progressive heavy resistance strength training leads to great increases in maximal dynamic strength of the trained subjects accompanied by both considerable neural adaptations and muscular hypertrophy not only in middle‐aged but also in elderly men and women. Both bilateral and unilateral exercises are effective to produce functional and structural adaptations in the neuromuscular system, although the magnitude of functional strength increase seems to be specific to the type of exercise used, further supporting the principle of specificity in the design of strength programmes.

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