ABSTRACT
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University, St Catharines, ON, Canada 27.1 INTRODUCTION Power training has been demonstrated to result in enhanced muscle strength and explosive power in adults (Aagaard et al., 2002). In children, power or high resistance training has been shown to result in enhanced maximal muscle strength (Behm et al., 2008), but the possible effects on explosive strength are unknown. In adults, the enhanced muscle performance is a result of muscle hypertrophy, as well as neurological adaptations (Sale, 1988; Folland and Williams, 2007). In children, no muscle hypertrophy has been demonstrated as a result of resistance training (Behm et al., 2008). Thus, it is assumed that muscle strength improvements are the result of neurological adaptations. Indeed, some evidence suggests greater motor unit recruitment in children as a result of resistance training (Ramsay et al., 1990). The effects of endurance training on muscle performance have been investigated to a limited extent in adults, demonstrating either no change (Hickson, 1980; Grandys et al., 2008) or some enhancement in muscle maximal and explosive strength (Lattier et al., 2003). Likewise, endurance training has been shown to be associated with some neural adaptations in adults (Lattier et al., 2003). In children, the effects of endurance training on muscle performance, morphology or neural response has not been examined.
