Does the reticulospinal tract mediate adaptation to resistance training in humans?
Resistance training increases volitional force producing capacity, and it is widely accepted that such an increase is partly underpinned by adaptations in the central nervous system, particularly in the early phases of training. Despite this, the neural substrate(s) responsible for mediating adaptation remains largely unknown. Most studies have focused on the corticospinal tract, the main descending pathway controlling movement in humans, with equivocal findings. It is possible that neural adaptation to resistance training is mediated by other structures; one such candidate is the reticulospinal tract. The aim of this narrative mini review is to articulate the potential of the reticulospinal tract to underpin adaptations in muscle strength. Specifically, we 1) discuss why the structure and function of the reticulospinal tract implicates it as a potential site for adaptation; 2) review the animal and human literature that supports the idea of the reticulospinal tract as an important neural substrate underpinning adaptation to resistance training; and 3) examine the potential methodological options to assess the reticulospinal tract in humans.
History
School
- Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences
Published in
Journal of Applied PhysiologyVolume
133Issue
3Pages
689 - 696Publisher
American Physiological SocietyVersion
- VoR (Version of Record)
Rights holder
© The AuthorsPublisher statement
This is an Open Access Article. It is published by American Physiological Society under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence (CC BY). Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Acceptance date
2022-07-05Publication date
2022-07-14Copyright date
2022ISSN
8750-7587eISSN
1522-1601Publisher version
Language
- en