Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage after a High-Intensity Interval Exercise Session: Systematic Review

Abstract

High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is considered an effective method to improve fitness and health indicators, but its high-intensity exercises and the mechanical and metabolic stress generated during the session can lead to the occurrence of exercise-induced muscle damage. Therefore, this study aimed to describe, by means of a systematic review, the effects of a single HIIT session on exercise-induced muscle damage. A total of 43 studies were found in the Medline/PubMed Science Direct/Embase/Scielo/CINAHL/LILACS databases; however, after applying the exclusion criteria, only 15 articles were considered eligible for this review. The total sample was 315 participants. Among them, 77.2% were men, 13.3% were women and 9.5 uninformed. Their age ranged from 20.1 ± 2 to 47.8 ± 7.5 years. HIIT protocols included running with ergometers (n = 6), CrossFit-specific exercises (n = 2), running without ergometers (n = 3), swimming (n = 1), the Wingate test on stationary bicycles (n = 2), and cycling (n = 1). The most applied intensity controls were %vVO2max, “all out”, MV, MAV, Vmax, and HRreserve%. The most used markers to evaluate muscle damage were creatine kinase, myoglobin, and lactate dehydrogenase. The time for muscle damage assessment ranged from immediately post exercise to seven days. HIIT protocols were able to promote changes in markers of exercise-induced muscle damage, evidenced by increases in CK, Mb, LDH, AST, ALT, pain, and muscle circumference observed mainly immediately and 24 h after the HIIT session.

Hydrogen-rich water supplementation promotes muscle recovery after two strenuous training sessions performed on the same day in elite fin swimmers: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial

“…During recovery period, blood samples exhibited a significantly lower concentration in CK with HRW compared to placebo, particularly at 19 h after morning HIIT and 12 h after (the next morning) the second fin swimming session performed in the afternoon. It has been well documented that a progressive efflux of cytosolic CK into the blood after HIIT occurs immediately and up to several days after exercise (Leite et al, 2023). This CK efflux could result from both mechanical muscle damage and indirectly through increased permeability of muscle cell membranes (Pyne, 1994;Brancaccio et al, 2010;Peake et al, 2017).…”

“…Well-trained fin swimmers, similarly to non-fin swimmers, perform two water-training sessions a day (Stavrou et al, 2019), including high-intensity interval training (HIIT) (Aspenes and Karlsen, 2012;Budnik-Przybylska et al, 2018), which typically involves repeated high-intensity short intervals interspersed with active or passive recovery (Buchheit and Laursen, 2013). HIIT is a very popular training method, however it is associated with exerciseinduced muscle damage (EIMD), evidenced by increased protein such as creatine kinase (CK), myoglobin, and lactate dehydrogenase in the bloodstream together with elevated muscle pain manifesting immediately post-exercise to several days after HIIT (Leite et al, 2023). Moreover, during high-intensity exercise such as repeated sprinting, formation of excessive reactive oxygen and nitrogen species may cause exercise-induced oxidative damage to cellular structures and mitochondrial fatigue (Calbet et al, 2020).…”