Background

It is well established that performing unilateral resistance training can increase muscle strength not only in the trained limb but also in the contralateral untrained limb, which is widely known as the cross-education of strength. However, less attention has been paid to the question of whether performing unilateral resistance training can induce cross-education of muscular endurance, despite its significant role in both athletic performance and activities of daily living.

Objectives

The objectives of this scoping review were to provide an overview of the existing literature on cross-education of muscular endurance, as well as discuss its potential underlying mechanisms and offer considerations for future research.

Methods

A scoping review was conducted on the effects of unilateral resistance training on changes in muscular endurance in the contralateral untrained limb. This scoping review was conducted in PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Scopus.

Results

A total of 2000 articles were screened and 21 articles met the inclusion criteria. Among the 21 included studies, eight studies examined the cross-education of endurance via absolute (n = 6) or relative (n = 2) muscular endurance test, while five studies did not clearly indicate whether they examined absolute or relative muscular endurance. The remaining eight studies examined different types of muscular endurance measurements (e.g., time to task failure, total work, and fatigue index).

Conclusion

The current body of the literature does not provide sufficient evidence to draw clear conclusions on whether the cross-education of muscular endurance is present. The cross-education of muscular endurance (if it exists) may be potentially driven by neural adaptations (via bilateral access and/or cross-activation models that lead to cross-education of strength) and increased tolerance to exercise-induced discomfort. However, the limited number of available randomized controlled trials and the lack of understanding of underlying mechanisms provide a rationale for future research.

中文翻译：

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肌肉耐力的交叉教育：范围界定审查

背景

众所周知，进行单侧阻力训练不仅可以增加受训肢体的肌肉力量，还可以增加对侧未训练肢体的肌肉力量，这被广泛称为力量的交叉教育。然而，尽管单侧阻力训练在运动表现和日常生活活动中发挥着重要作用，但进行单侧阻力训练是否可以诱导肌肉耐力的交叉教育这一问题却很少受到关注。

目标

本次范围审查的目的是概述有关肌肉耐力交叉教育的现有文献，并讨论其潜在的潜在机制并为未来的研究提供考虑。

方法

对单侧阻力训练对未训练对侧肌肉耐力变化的影响进行了范围审查。本次范围界定审查是在 PubMed、SPORTDiscus 和 Scopus 中进行的。

结果

共筛选文章2000篇，符合纳入标准21篇。在纳入的 21 项研究中，8 项研究通过绝对 ( n  = 6) 或相对 ( n  = 2) 肌肉耐力测试检验了耐力的交叉教育，而 5 项研究没有明确表明他们是否检验了绝对或相对肌肉耐力。其余八项研究检查了不同类型的肌肉耐力测量（例如，完成任务失败的时间、总工作量和疲劳指数）。

结论

目前的文献没有提供足够的证据来就肌肉耐力的交叉教育是否存在得出明确的结论。肌肉耐力的交叉教育（如果存在）可能是由神经适应（通过导致力量交叉教育的双边访问和/或交叉激活模型）和对运动引起的不适的耐受性增加潜在驱动的。然而，可用的随机对照试验数量有限以及对潜在机制缺乏了解为未来的研究提供了理由。