Resistance Training Activates the Muscle Repair Machinery
Freiburg, 28/07/2026
An interdisciplinary research team from the Universities of Hildesheim, Bonn, and Freiburg have now uncovered how human skeletal muscle responds to resistance exercise. The findings may help to improve training programmes for athletes and patients, as well as to counteract muscle loss in old age. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
A specific protein network plays a significant role in muscle growth. Photo: Volker Lannert / University of Bonn
Resistance training is crucial for building and maintaining muscle mass. However, such exercise also also places considerable mechanical stress on muscle fibers. An interdisciplinary research team led by Prof. Dr Pitter Huesgen, Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Freiburg, Prof. Dr Sebastian Gehlert, Professor at the Institute of Sport Science at the University of Hildesheim, and Prof. Dr Jörg Höhfeld, Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Bonn, has now examined how muscles cope with this damage and adapt to resistance training. The findings provide new insights into the mechanisms involved and the role of an associated protein network. They may help to optimise training programmes for patients and athletes, as well as to counteract muscle loss in old age. The study was published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Communications.
Resistance Training Activates the Muscle Repair Machinery
To investigate these processes, the research team collected muscle biopsies from healthy volunteers before and after a bout of high-intensity resistance exercise. They also examined how a prolonged period of reduced training and complete cessation of resistance exercise affected these molecular adaptations. Using state-of-the-art proteomics approaches, the team identified dynamic changes within the contractile apparatus of skeletal muscle.
The researchers found that resistance training activates a protein network in the body that recognizes damaged muscle components and targets them for removal. At the same time, this repair machinery promotes the formation of new muscle components, replacing those that have been damaged. This coordinated process preserves and reinforces the muscle’s contractile apparatus, which is responsible for muscle contraction.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration Enables New Discoveries
“Our analytical approaches allowed us to identify proteins that are recruited to the contractile apparatus after resistance exercise, where they perform essential protective and repair functions,” explains Prof. Dr Pitter Huesgen, a proteomics expert at the University of Freiburg.
The muscle samples for the study were isolated by Prof. Dr Sebastian Gehlert at the University of Hildesheim. The laboratory of Prof. Dr Jörg Höhfeld at the Institute for Cell Biology at the University of Bonn subsequently investigated exactly how the proteins contained in these samples function. “Using cultured muscle cells, we demonstrated that these repair proteins first recognize damaged muscle structures and then remove them through a cellular degradation pathway known as autophagy. This clears the way for muscle repair and adaptation to resistance training,” says Höhfeld.
“Our analytical approaches allowed us to identify proteins that are recruited to the contractile apparatus after resistance exercise, where they perform essential protective and repair functions,”
Prof. Dr. Pitter Huesgen
Professor of Biochemistry at the Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg
Implications for Training and Rehabilitation
“Our findings reveal how training intensity and training duration influence both muscle damage and the activation of the repair machinery,” says Prof Dr Sebastian Gehlert in reference to the findings’ relevance. “This knowledge will help us optimise the sequencing of training sessions for athletes as well as rehabilitation programs for patients in clinical settings.” He is now applying these new findings both to the training of sports scientists and to optimising training for athletes at Olympic training centres, as well as for police officers and members of the Bundeswehr.
Funding and Participating Institutions
The study was conducted through a collaboration between researchers at the Universities of Hildesheim, Bonn, and Freiburg, the German Sport University Cologne, and the University of Duisburg-Essen. The work was supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
Further information
- Original publication: Kuppusamy, et al.: Fractionated proteomics identifies a protein network mitigating resistance exercise-induced damage in human skeletal muscle. „Nature Communications“, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-75501-y