Acute and chronic regional changes in elbow flexor thickness after resistance training with dumbbell curl or dumbbell row exercises

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the acute changes in muscle thickness (i.e., muscle swelling; Experiment 1) and chronic responses (i.e., muscle hypertrophy; Experiment 2) along the elbow flexor length (biceps brachii and brachialis together) after the dumbbell curl (DC) versus the dumbbell row (DR) exercises. For Experiment 1, 16 trained men completed a training session (4 × 8-12RM). For Experiment 2, nine untrained men underwent a resistance training program (8 wk; 2x/wk; 4-6 × 8-12RM). Both experiments followed a within-subject experimental design, in which each subject performed DC or DR for each upper limb. Panoramic ultrasound images of the elbow flexors (biceps brachii + brachialis) were captured before and immediately after the session (Experiment 1) or 72 h after the last training program session (Experiment 2). Muscle thickness (MT) was measured at proximal (25%) and distal (75%) regions of the biceps brachii length. After the acute training session, DC induced greater changes in elbow flexors MT (proximal = 19%; distal = 16%) than DR (proximal = 13%; distal = 12%), with a statistically significant difference between exercises for the proximal region (p = 0.024). After the 8-week training program, DC evoked regional hypertrophy (proximal = 5%; distal = 11%) and greater changes than DR, which showed increases only in the proximal region (5%) but not in the distal region (1%). Greater acute and chronic increases in MT were revealed for the DC exercise, but with different regional responses.

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2025

Publication Title

Sport Sciences for Health

Publisher

Springer

School

School of Medical and Health Sciences

Funders

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (E-26/202955/2017)

Comments

Leitão, B. F. M., Albarello, J. C. S., Halmenschlager, G. H., Mannarino, P., Nunes, J. P., De Salles, B. F., & Matta, T. T. (2025). Acute and chronic regional changes in elbow flexor thickness after resistance training with dumbbell curl or dumbbell row exercises. Sport Sciences for Health. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11332-025-01530-7

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1007/s11332-025-01530-7