ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Gazzetta Medica Italiana Archivio per le Scienze Mediche 2016 October;175(10):391-9

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

The thermal response of biceps brachii to strength training

Eduardo B. NEVES ^{1, 2, 3}, José VILAÇA-ALVES ², Tiago R. MOREIRA ², Rui J. DE LEMOS ², Victor M. REIS ²

¹ Graduate Program of Biomedical Engineering, Federal Technological University of Paraná, Curitiba, Brazil; ² Sports Department, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal; ³ Brazilian Army, Quartel General do Exército, Brasília, Brazil

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to determine the relationships among exercise volume and the time/intensity of thermal response during biceps brachii exercise and on subsequent days.
METHODS: A short-longitudinal study has been carried out, involving 28 healthy male volunteers. The volunteers were randomized into two groups: the 3BS group (N.=15) and the 5BS group (N.=13). The 3BS group performed three sets with 16 repetitions of biceps bi-set exercise (eight repetitions of biceps curls and another eight of biceps hammer curls, with dumbbells) with load of 70% of 1RM. The thermal images were made in the following moments: before the exercise and immediately after each set (three images for the 3BS group and five for the 5BS group) and at 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours after the exercise.
RESULTS: The main findings of this study were that: 1) the temperature in the regions of interest decreased in both groups during the first minute of exercise; 2) the temperature of the control group tended to decrease and the temperature of the exercise group tended to increase, during exercise performance; 3) the temperature of control biceps followed the values of the exercise biceps on the following days; 4) the observed time and intensity of thermal response seems to be related with exercise volume, during and following exercise; 5) the thermal effects lasted for over 4 days in the group with higher volume of exercise; 6) the thermal response did not show significant statistical correlations with delayed onset muscle soreness scores.
CONCLUSIONS: The main findings of this study were that there are strong relationships among exercise volume and the time/intensity of thermal response after biceps brachii exercise. Also, the temperature of contralateral arm go along with the exercise arm temperature at the subsequent days after exercise, and the thermal effects last for more than four days after high exercise volume.