Researchers at Ghent University, led by Wim Derave, made a novel discovery using Springbok’s MRI-based muscle analysis technology in a recent study: "Evidence for Simultaneous Muscle Atrophy and Hypertrophy in Response to Resistance Training in Humans."
Derave's team measured the volume of 28 individual leg muscles and two individual arm muscles in 21 strength-training novices before and after a 10-week single joint resistance training program.
Springbok’s technology was relied upon to baseline and track changes in muscle volume over the 10-week period.
(Read more on the findings on Team Derave's official X account.)
The researchers discovered that muscles that are not the targets of strength training exercises often lose mass. It was expected that the targeted muscles would increase mass, but this study was able to quantitatively show that other, non-trained muscles actually got smaller.
Prior to this study, the commonly held belief was that non-trained muscles would remain the same size during training, but this study showed that they can get smaller.
What does this mean for future studies, and for practical applications?
While limb musculature per height-mass was 22% greater in sprinters than in non-sprinters, individual muscles were not all uniformly larger. Hip- and knee-crossing muscles were significantly larger among sprinters (mean difference: 30%, range: 19-54%) but only one ankle-crossing muscle was significantly larger (tibialis posterior, 28%). Population-wide asymmetry was not significant in the sprint population but individual muscle asymmetries exceeded 15%. Gender differences in normalized muscle sizes were not significant. The results of this study suggest that non-uniform hypertrophy patterns, particularly large hip and knee flexors and extensors, are advantageous for fast sprinting.
We spoke with Derave to better understand how his team used Springbok’s analysis, as well as the broader impact on research and future muscle studies.
What does Springbok allow you to do differently as a researcher?
Springbok technology allows you to look at muscle mass adaptations, and the chronic effects of resistance training, in a targeted way. It allowed us to measure everything in an unbiased, untargeted way, which can lead to novel findings. We would never have thought that there would be atrophy of some muscles during resistance training.
Springbok is a game changer for us researchers, as we can look with such a broad scope and find things that we were not expecting to find. Before Springbok, this type of individual muscle segmentation was extremely laborious and required specific expertise.
What will Springbok help to unlock moving forward?
Ultimately, this study showed why it is important to look at muscles individually and monitor how each muscle responds to interventions. Springbok allows us to take both a targeted and global approach. The field has traditionally used a targeted approach to studying muscle changes, due to the time and cost limitations of doing this across many muscles at once."
Wim and his team at Ghent University plan to use Springbok for a future study looking at full body, compound exercises to see if the findings are similar.
Contact us to learn about using Springbok's technology in your research work.