European Journal of Applied Physiology

, Volume 114, Issue 1, pp 123–133 | Cite as

High-load resistance exercise with superimposed vibration and vascular occlusion increases critical power, capillaries and lean mass in endurance-trained men

  • Sandro Manuel Mueller
  • David Aguayo
  • Fabio Lunardi
  • Severin Ruoss
  • Urs Boutellier
  • Sebastian Frese
  • Jens A. Petersen
  • Hans H. Jung
  • Marco Toigo
Original Article
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Purpose

It is a widely accepted premise in the scientific community and by athletes alike, that adding resistance exercise to a regular regimen of endurance training increases endurance performance in endurance-trained men. However, critical power (CP), capillarization, and myofiber size remain unaffected by this addition. Therefore, we tested whether the superimposition of resistance exercise with whole-body vibration and vascular occlusion (vibroX) would improve these variables in endurance-trained males relative to resistance exercise alone.

Methods

Twenty-one young, endurance-trained males were randomly assigned either to a vibroX (n = 11) or resistance (n = 10) training group. Both groups trained in a progressive mode twice a week for 8 weeks. Pre and post training, histochemical muscle characteristics, thigh muscle size, endurance and strength parameters were determined.

Results

vibroX increased CP (P = 0.001), overall capillary-to-fiber ratio (P = 0.001) and thigh lean mass (P < 0.001), while these parameters were unaffected by resistance training. The gain in CP by vibroX was positively correlated with the gain in capillarization (R 2 = 0.605, P = 0.008), and the gain in thigh lean mass was paralleled by increases in MyHC-1 and MyHC-2 fiber cross-sectional areas and strength. Maximum voluntary torque and the finite work capacity above CP (W′) increased significantly only following resistance training.

Conclusions

We achieved a proof of concept by demonstrating that modification of resistance exercise by superimposing side-alternating whole-body vibration and sustained vascular occlusion induced further improvements in CP, capillarization and hypertrophy, all of which were not observed with resistance training alone.

Keywords

Concurrent training Hypertrophy Endurance performance Side-alternating whole-body vibration 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

We thank the participants for their effort and time commitment. We further thank Marilyn Immoos for reviewing our manuscript. Imaging was performed with equipment maintained by the Center for Microscopy and Image Analysis, University of Zurich. This work has been supported by a grant of the Swiss Federal Sports Commission, Magglingen, Switzerland.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sandro Manuel Mueller
    • 1
  • David Aguayo
    • 1
  • Fabio Lunardi
    • 1
  • Severin Ruoss
    • 1
  • Urs Boutellier
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
  • Sebastian Frese
    • 1
    • 4
  • Jens A. Petersen
    • 4
  • Hans H. Jung
    • 4
  • Marco Toigo
    • 1
    • 2
    • 3
  1. 1.Exercise Physiology, Institute of Human Movement SciencesETH ZurichZurichSwitzerland
  2. 2.Institute of PhysiologyUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
  3. 3.Zurich Center for Integrative Human PhysiologyUniversity of ZurichZurichSwitzerland
  4. 4.Department of NeurologyUniversity Hospital ZurichZurichSwitzerland

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