Strength gain at little cost? Feasibility of 'low load' eccentric cycling as a tool for strength gain in sedentary men

Symptomatic reporting is a common issue in exercise rehabilitation. When traditional concentric aerobic exercise is used as an exercise stimulus, dyspnoea and fatigue are often reported by elderly5 and by cohorts with cardiorespiratory pathology3. Among the unique attributes of eccentric aerobic exercise is lower metabolic and cardiovascular demand for a given workload 1 ,2. This makes eccentric aerobic exercise more suitable for long-term adherence in rehabilitation. Although, extremely 'high load' eccentric cycling interventions have shown improvements in strength measurements4, no 'low load' eccentric cycling studies have been performed to determine if strength adaptations are feasible. Therefore, this study determined if 'low load' eccentric cycling can stimulate strength adaptations.