New data outline positive effects of endurance exercise training

Treadmill training, a form of endurance exercise, was found to be highly effective "with robust improvements in skeletal muscle citrate synthase activity in as little as [one to two] weeks, and improvements in maximum run speed and maximal uptake by [four to eight] weeks." The full effect of endurance exercise training was previously unexplained until this study.

Researchers sought to develop and implement a standardized endurance exercise protocol in more than 340 rats participating in progressive treadmill training five days a week for one, two, four or eight weeks.

The researchers collected and measured 18 samples of tissues, blood and plasma to determine the effectiveness of endurance exercise. Improving skeletal muscle citrate synthase activity—a marker of mitochondrial density—in rats that exercised is significant because it feeds more energy to working muscles so they can function longer and faster.

The article, "Physiological adaptations to progressive endurance exercise training in adult and aged rats: insights from the molecular transducers of physical activity consortium (MoTrPAC)," is published ahead of print in the journal Function.

"This work in mature, treadmill-trained rats represents the most comprehensive and unprecedented resource for studying temporal, sex- and age-specific responses to endurance exercise training in a pre-clinical rat model," the researchers wrote.