Co‐Contraction Training Induces Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength Gains in Older Adults: A Controlled Intervention Study
Marina Mello Villalba, Rafael Akira Fujita, Julia Oliveira de Faria, Veronica Miyasike‐daSilva, Renato Moraes, Matheus Machado Gomes · 2026
Read Co‐Contraction Training Induces Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength Gains in Older Adults: A Controlled Intervention Study by Marina Mello Villalba, Rafael Akira Fujita, Julia Oliveira de Faria, Veronica Miyasike‐daSilva, Renato Moraes, Matheus Machado Gomes (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13259961.txt.
Description
Marina Mello Villalba and colleagues wrote a 2026 controlled intervention study of co-contraction training in older adults. In co-contraction training, opposing muscles are tightened against each other at the same time, so no weights or machines are needed. Thirty-four physically active adults aged sixty to eighty-five were assigned by chance to co-contraction training, traditional machine training, or a control group. Both training programs ran twice a week for eight weeks.
Muscle size grew in both training groups, by up to ten percent with co-contraction and fifteen percent with machines. Strength, however, improved only in the traditional group, while the co-contraction group showed a small reduction in one strength measure. All groups improved on functional capacity tests like sit-to-stand and walking, with no differences between groups. The authors call co-contraction a workable low-cost option where machines are unavailable.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Marina Mello Villalba, Rafael Akira Fujita, Julia Oliveira de Faria, Veronica Miyasike‐daSilva, Renato Moraes, Matheus Machado Gomes |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 45829 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |