The relationship between resistance exercises and muscle strength has been known for centuries. In ancient Greece, Milo the wrestler used progressive resistance exercises to improve his strength. His original method consisted of lifting a calf each day until it reached its full growth and this technique provides probably the first example of progressive resistance exercises. Today, it is well documented in the literature that the size of skeletal muscle is affected by the amount of muscular activity performed. Increased work by a muscle can cause that muscle to undergo compensatory growth (hypertrophy), whereas disuse leads to wasting of the muscle (atrophy). This information has stimulated the medical and sports professions, especially coaches and athletes, to try many combinations and techniques of muscle overload. These attempts to produce a better means of rehabilitation or a physiologic edge in sporting activities have only scratched the surface of the cellular mechanisms and physiologic consequences of muscular overload. Muscular strength may be defined as the force that a muscle group can exert against a resistance in a maximal effort. In 1948, Delorme (35) adopted the name "progressive resistance exercise" for his method of developing muscular strength through the utilization of counter balances and weight of the extremity with a cable and pulley arrangement. This technique gave load-assisting exercises to muscle groups that did not perform antigravity motions. McQueen distinguished between exercise regimens for producing muscle hypertrophy and those for producing muscle power. (66) He concluded that the number of repetitions for each set of exercise determines the different characteristics of the various training procedures.
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