Muscle Soreness and Neuromuscular Fatigue After Three Different Resistance Exercise Protocols: Comparison Between Men and Women

Margoni, M, Bochicchio, G, Ferrari, L, and Pogliaghi, S. Muscle soreness and neuromuscular fatigue after three different resistance exercise protocols: Comparison between men and women. J Strength Cond Res 39(6): 625-633, 2025-This study evaluated the sex-related differences in the magnitude and time course of muscle soreness and neuromuscular fatigue after 3 different resistance training (RT) protocols, in both the upper and lower body. Sixteen recreational resistance-trained women ( n = 7) and men ( n = 9) performed 3 RT protocols, in randomized order as either power (POW, 4 × 5 at 50% 1 repetition maximum [1RM]), strength (STR, 4 × 2 at 90% 1RM), and hypertrophy (4 × 10 at 70% 1RM), involving 2 main exercises (back squat and bench press) at aim-specific training load, and 4 complementary exercises. Visual analog scale and load cell (1,000 Hz, AEP transducer, Italy) were used to assess muscle soreness and changes in maximal peak force, respectively, of upper and lower body pre-, post-, 24 h, 48, and 72 h after each protocol. Three-way RM ANOVA was run to compare muscle soreness and neuromuscular fatigue of the upper and lower body between sexes, within protocols and time. Men and women showed similar changes in muscle soreness and neuromuscular fatigue across all protocols and body parts ( p > 0.05). Moreover, both sexes exhibited higher neuromuscular fatigue in the lower body than the upper body, across all protocols ( p < 0.05). These results suggest that men and women show similar kinetics in muscle soreness and neuromuscular fatigue after 3 different RT protocols, with a greater impact experienced in the lower body. Therefore, designing RT programs on sex-specific performance kinetics may not be essential, although increasing upper body exercises volume and frequency can benefit both sexes.