Work volume is an important variable in determining the degree of inhibitory control improvements following resistance exercise.

We previously determined that improvement in cognitive inhibitory control (IC) immediately after localized resistance exercise was greater for high-intensity resistance exercise (HRE) than for low-intensity resistance exercise (LRE). However, our previous study used the same total repetitions (i.e., same repetitions per set) between HRE and LRE; therefore, the difference in postexercise IC improvement might be due to a difference in work volume (i.e., intensity × total repetitions). In this study, we compared the effect of high-volume (HV)-LRE to that of volume-matched HRE on postexercise IC improvements. Twenty-two healthy, young males performed both HV-LRE and HRE in a crossover design. Exercise loads for HV-LRE and HRE were set at 35% and 70% of one-repetition maximum, respectively. The bilateral knee extension exercises for HV-LRE and HRE were programmed for six sets with 20 and 10 repetitions, respectively, per set. IC was measured using the color-word Stroop task (CWST) at six time points; baseline, pre-exercise, immediate postexercise, and every 10 min during the 30-min postexercise recovery period. The reverse-Stroop interference score decreased significantly immediately after HV-LRE and HRE compared with that before each exercise (decreasing rate >34 and >38%, respectively, vs. baseline and pre-exercise; all ps < .05), and the decreased score remained significant until 20 min after both protocols (decreasing rate >40 and >38%, respectively, vs. baseline and pre-exercise; all ps < .05). The degree of the postexercise IC improvements did not differ significantly between the two protocols. These findings suggest that HV-LRE improves IC in a similar manner to volume-matched HRE.

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