30 Seconds SummaryDoes higher volume training mitigate muscle losses when dieting?
- Recent studies explore the impact of training variables on lean mass retention during weight loss, with a focus on resistance training volume.
- The study by Roth and colleagues involved 38 resistance-trained males who were split into two groups with different training volumes for a seven-week period.
- Both groups followed a similar diet, starting with a maintenance calorie level and moving to a moderate calorie deficit from the second week onwards.
- Training for both groups was based on an upper-lower split, with one group performing moderate volume (1-3 sets) and the other higher volume (3-5 sets) of the same exercises.
- Measurements taken before and after the intervention included muscle thickness, body composition, muscle contractility, sleep quality, and mood states, using various analytical techniques.
- Results showed no significant differences between moderate- and higher-volume training in terms of changes in body mass, lean mass, muscle thickness, training load adjustments, sleep quality, or mood states.
- The study suggests that varying training volumes during a dieting phase with modest energy deficits and in moderately lean individuals does not significantly affect muscle retention or body composition.
- The broader implications are that both moderate and somewhat higher training volumes may have similar outcomes for individuals not undergoing extreme diets or trying to maintain super lean body states.
- The actual range of training volumes studied was relatively narrow. Future research could explore more diverse training volumes to determine if greater variances might show different results.
Stronger By Science
Greg Nuckols
