Effects of eccentric-only resistance training and detraining

The purposes of this investigation were to examine the effects of unilateral eccentric-only dynamic constant external resistance (DCER) training of the leg extensor muscles on: (a) eccentric DCER strength in the trained and untrained limbs, (b) concentric isokinetic leg extension peak torque-velocity curves in the trained and untrained limbs, and (c) retention of eccentric DCER strength and concentric isokinetic peak torque in the trained and untrained limbs following detraining. Seventeen adult male (X age ± SD = 24 ± 3 yr) volunteers comprised training (TR, n = 9) and control (CTL, n = 8) groups. The TR group trained the leg extensor muscles of the nondominant limb with eccentric-only DCER exercise (3-5 sets of 6 repetitions at 80% of the eccentric one-repetition maximum [1-RM] load) for eight weeks followed by eight additional weeks of detraining. The CTL group did not train. All subjects were tested pretraining, posttraining, and after detraining for 1-RM unilateral eccentric DCER strength of the leg extensor muscles as well as concentric isokinetic leg extension peak torque at 1.05, 2.09, 3.14, 4.19, and 5.24 rad.s^-1 in both limbs. Mixed factorial ANOVAs, follow-ups, and post-hoc analyses indicated that the training resulted in increased eccentric DCER strength in both the trained (29%) and untrained (17%) limbs, but no change in isokinetic peak torque at any of the velocities of contraction in either limb. Furthermore, the training-induced increases in eccentric DCER strength for both limbs were retained across eight weeks of detraining.