Rate of change in longitudinal EMG indicates time course of an individual's neuromuscular adaptation in resistance-based muscle training.

Only 11 healthy adults were studied, and the paper says it was difficult to recruit a larger group because inactive people had to exercise for over 3 months. Many recordings were discarded because of noise, saturation, corruption, or high noise floors: 65 hypertrophy data points and 104 endurance data points were unusable. All participants were healthy, aged 23 to 26, and not regularly weight training, so the results may not apply to clinical populations. The training groups and control groups did not receive the same exercise dose: the training groups exercised twice per week, while controls exercised once per month. The study measured EMG signal changes, not clinical outcomes such as strength, function, pain, or patient-reported benefit. Electrode placement and signal noise varied over 100 days, and the authors note errors may be present. The authors say the rates are not predictive across all humans and do not claim population-wide adaptation modelling.

The work was funded by the State University of New York Research Foundation. The supplied text does not state any author conflicts of interest.

Do not read the lower muscle electrical signal peaks as proof that resistance training improves patient outcomes. The study measured 11 healthy adults doing bicep curls over about 100 days and did not test patients, clinical function, or training recommendations.