Comparison of Traditional and Rest-Redistribution Sets on Indirect Markers of Muscle Damage Following Eccentric Exercise

The purpose was to investigate the effect of rest-redistribution (RR) on muscle damage after eccentric knee extensions. After 2 weeks of eccentric familiarization, 11 resistance-trained men performed 2 work-matched isokinetic unilateral eccentric knee extension protocols at 60°·s−1 using a crossover design, separated by 7 days. Subjects performed 40 repetitions with 285 seconds of rest using traditional sets (TS; 4 sets of 10 with 95 seconds of interset rest) and RR (RR; 20 sets of 2 with 15 seconds of interset rest). Muscle morphology, tensiomyography, range of motion, perceived soreness, and strength were measured before and 0, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hour after RR and TS. There were no protocol × time interactions (p < 0.05). When collapsed across protocol and compared to baseline, echo intensity of the proximal vastus lateralis was 7 ± 9% greater at 0 hour (p = 0.042), echo intensity of the distal vastus lateralis was 6 ± 7% and 9 ± 7% greater at 0 hour (p = 0.048) and 24 hour (p < 0.001), respectively, and passive ROM was 2 ± 1% lower at 48 hour (p = 0.043) after exercise. No other differences existed over time for any other variable. Thus, contrary to concentric performance where RR likely plays a large role in maintaining performance, RR during eccentric isokinetic resistance training does not strongly influence exercise performance and indications of subsequent muscle damage.