Abstract
This study assessed associations between changes in the weekly number of sets
performed and the percentage change in muscle thickness of the biceps
(MTBB) and triceps (MTTB) brachii muscles. Through a
retrospective analysis, sixty-eight resistance-trained subjects that
participated in previous studies had their previous training volumes analyzed
and compared to the volume imposed during each individual study. The
relationship between variables was determined through Spearman
correlation and a k-cluster analysis was performed to subdivide the participants
into three groups and classified as:<0%; 0–50%,
and >50% increase in the number of sets for both muscle groups.
Moderate and weak correlations were observed between the alterations in training
volume and changes in MTBB (rs=0.44,
p=0.001) and MTTB (rs=0.35,
p=0.002), respectively. A significant difference was noted
between<0% to >50% for MTBB and
MTTB (p=0.017; p=0.042,
respectively), while no significant difference was observed
between<0% to 0–50% and 0–50% to
>50% (both p >0.05) for both muscle groups. In
conclusion, muscle hypertrophy of the upper limbs is only weakly to moderately
associated with changes in training volume of trained subjects.
Key words
strength training - number of sets - morphology - muscle thickness
