Influence of unilateral endurance training on contralateral limb

¹ Department of Physical Education—Women, University of California, Santa Barbara, California

Forty-one women college students were tested to determine the effect of unilateral endurance training on the contralateral limb. Endurance was defined as the maximum number of times a subject, seated on a table, could lift an 18-lb boot from one prescribed point to another at a given rate of speed. Initial endurance of the quadriceps muscle group in each leg was established. For the next 3 weeks each subject trained three times a week to increase endurance in one leg. At the end of the training period the endurance of the untrained limb was again tested. Through training, the mean increase in endurance of the active limb was 435.71 or 966%. The mean increase in endurance of the inactive or untrained limb was 145.34 or 275%.