New publications
New findings describe the positive effects of endurance training
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Treadmill training, a form of endurance exercise, has been found to be highly effective "with significant improvements in skeletal muscle citrate synthase activity in as little as [one to two] weeks and improvements in maximal running speed and maximal oxygen uptake after [four to eight] weeks." The full effects of endurance training have not been previously explained before this study.
The researchers aimed to develop and implement a standardized endurance training protocol that involved more than 340 rats performing progressive treadmill training five days per week for one, two, four, or eight weeks.
The researchers collected and measured 18 tissue, blood and plasma samples to determine the effectiveness of endurance training. The improvement in skeletal muscle citrate synthase activity, a marker of mitochondrial density, in the rats that trained is important because it provides more energy to the working muscles, allowing them to work longer and faster.
The article, "Physiological adaptations to progressive endurance training in adult and aging rats: insights from the Molecular Transducers of Physical Activity Consortium (MoTrPAC)" is published in the journal Function.
"This work in mature treadmill-trained rats represents the most comprehensive and unprecedented resource to study the temporal, sex, and age-related responses to endurance training in a preclinical rat model," the researchers wrote.