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Unit of study_
EXSS2030: Muscle Adaptations to Use and Disuse
2025 unit information
The purpose of the unit is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of skeletal muscle function and how muscle adapts to increased use, specifically how muscle responds to high-resistance training (HRT, also know as strength training) and to disuse. Students will gain an understanding of muscle force development in terms of myosin function and organization (sarcomeres, myofibrils, muscle fibers) and the neural processes involved in maximal voluntary contractions. Students will then apply this knowledge to understand how HRT works in terms of hypertrophy and neural adaptations, the process of muscle atrophy during disuse and the effects of retraining after disuse. Students will integrate this biological understanding with an evidence-base approach to HRT prescription. Students apply and integrate these approaches gain skills in the real-world prescription of HRT through participation in HRT program in practical session, and then gain skills in data analysis via interpretation of their own responses to training. Students will gain skills in the ability to critically evaluate, and communicate applications of evidence-base research in healthy and clinical populations. Finally the unit examines concepts on muscle energy balance in terms of methods and control of ATP production and use, and these concepts are used to understand the concepts of peripheral and central fatigue.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Medicine and Health
| Study level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Movement Sciences |
| Credit points | 6 |
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Prerequisites:
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None |
|---|---|
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Corequisites:
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None |
| Prohibitions:
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EXSS1036 and EXSS1040 |
| Assumed knowledge:
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None |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. Explain the limits to voluntary muscle force production in terms of both skeletal muscle structure and neural activation
- LO2. Explain the neuro-muscular adaptations to high-resistance training in health, aging and disease
- LO3. Explain the neuro-muscular adaptations to muscle disuse, aging and chronic disease states effecting skeletal muscle
- LO4. Acquire skills in evaluating evidence-based guidelines for prescription of high-resistance training in health and disease
- LO5. Acquire skills and experience in the assessment of maximal voluntary strength and in the prescription and evaluation of a high-resistance training program
- LO6. Explain muscle energy metabolism in terms of ATP demand and supply and explain causes of fatigue during muscular exercise.
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
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Semester 2 2025
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Normal day | Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
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Modes of attendance (MoA)
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