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Status unknownNCT04574674REFLEXUpdated Aug 20, 2021

Home-based REsistance vs a Home-based FLEXbility Exercise Programmes on Muscular Endurance and Flexibility in Adults

An interventional study of Flexibility exercise programme and Resistance exercise programme in Exercise, sponsored by University of Glasgow. Status unknown at 1 site in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 64 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2021-08-20.

Sponsored by University of Glasgow · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Aug 2021), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
72
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 64 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study will evaluate the effects of a home-based resistance exercise programme v/s a home-based flexibility exercise programme on muscular endurance and flexibility on healthy adults. Half of the participants will undergo a 12-weeks home-based resistance exercise programme while the other half will undergo a 12-week home-based flexibility exercise programme.

Read the detailed description

Regular resistance training can lead to a variety of health benefits including increases in muscle size and strength, reductions on body fat, increased metabolic rate, glycaemic control, decreased blood pressure and improved blood lipid profiles. Because of this, current physical activity guidelines recommend undertaking muscle strengthening activities involving major muscle groups two days a week or more, alongside at least 150 minutes per week of moderate intensity physical activity (or 75 minutes per week of vigorous intensity physical activity). However, only small portion of the population achieves the muscle strengthening aspect of the guidelines.

Why participation in muscle-strengthening exercise is low is not clear but people identify several barriers including the lack of time, the effort involved, lack of purpose, pain due to injury, negative experiences of prescriptive exercise, apathy, illness, injury inclement weather and work commitment. In addition, some women have expressed a worry of looking 'manly' or 'bulking up' if they undertake resistance exercise. A further potential barrier is lack of access to a gym with appropriate equipment to perform resistance exercise, or dislike of a gym setting. Thus, identifying approaches to find a safe, enjoyable and accessible programme that minimises the burden of performing resistance exercise, and identifying a minimal amount of resistance training which can provide benefits is a key issue which could help more people to undertake muscle strengthening exercises.

Meta-analyses indicate that while performing resistance exercise two or more times per week of resistance exercise per muscle group appears to be optimal to maximise strength gains, a single set of resistance exercise per muscle group per week, if performed to failure is sufficient to induce substantial strength changes.

The main aim of this study is to compare the effects of an app-based home-based resistance exercise programme vs a home-based flexibility programme on muscular endurance (number of press-ups, time achieved in half-squat test, and time achieved in plank test, assessed online during a zoom call) and flexibility (sit and reach, assessed online during a zoom call) in healthy adults. Secondary aims are a) to determine participants' adherence to both exercise programmes, b) to determine participants' choice of weekly exercise volume (compared to minimum prescription) in both exercise programmes c) to determine participants' distribution of exercise throughout the week in both exercise programmes d) to determine the effects of a exercise programmes on well-being, and finally e) to determine participants' perceptions, feelings, thoughts, enjoyment, tolerance and acceptability of both exercise programmes.

The study is a randomized control trial in which the flexibility exercise group will undergo a 12-week home-based flexibility exercise programme. The resistance exercise group will undergo a 12-week home-based resistance exercise programme. Participants will be asked to perform a minimum amount of resistance or flexibility exercise of 1 set/week for each of six exercises and will have the opportunity to increase their volume of exercise to 2 sets or 3 sets/week per exercise if it is their choice. In addition, participants will be able to distribute the exercises during the week according to their preference (all in one day or spread over several days of the week, etc.). Participants will be encouraged to have a minimum of one day of rest per week.

02

Conditions studied

  • Exercise

Keywords

  • muscle endurance
  • muscle strength
  • muscular fitness
  • resistance training
  • strength training
  • physical activity
  • voluntary failure
03

In context

Lead sponsor

University of Glasgow is the lead sponsor of 141 studies on the registry; 20 are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 64 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • 18-64 years old.
  • Perform 30 minutes or more of aerobic vigorous physical activity per week.
  • Do not to perform any kind of resistance exercise.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Failure of the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire Plus (PAR-Q+)
  • Perform 30 minutes or more of vigorous intensity exercise from the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ)
  • To have a job that compromises manual labour
  • History of cardiovascular disease
  • Diabetes
  • Any other illness that would prevent the participation in a resistance exercise or flexibility exercise programme.
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Single (Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
72 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Flexibility exercise group

    Participants will be asked to follow a 12-week flexibility exercise training programme. Participants will be asked to perform a minimum amount of flexibility exercise of 1 set/week for each of six exercises and will have the opportunity to increase their volume of exercise to 2 sets or 3 sets/week per exercise if it is their choice. Participants will perform 6 flexibility exercises per week (2 different for legs, 1 shoulder and arms, 1 chest, 1 back and 1 core). Passive static stretching exercises will be performed.

    Behavioral: Flexibility exercise programme

  • Experimental
    Resistance exercise group

    Participants will be asked to follow a 12-week home-based exercise programme. Participants will be asked to perform a minimum amount of resistance exercise of 1 set/week for each of six exercises and will have the opportunity to increase their volume of exercise to 2 sets or 3 sets/week per exercise if it is their choice. Participants in the resistance exercise group will be asked to perform a total of 6 exercises per week (2 different leg exercises, 1 shoulder exercise, 1 chest exercise, 1 back exercise and 1 core exercise). Body weight and resistance bands exercises will be used. Participants will be asked to perform each set to complete as many repetitions as possible until fatigue.

    Behavioral: Resistance exercise programme

Interventions

  • BehavioralFlexibility exercise programme

    Static passive flexibility exercises.

  • BehavioralResistance exercise programme

    Body weight and resistance bands exercises.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Number of press ups

    Change in number of press ups

    Time frame: 0 -12 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Number of press-ups

    Change in the number of press ups

    Time frame: 0-6 weeks

  2. Number of press-ups

    Change in the number of press ups

    Time frame: 6-12 weeks

  3. Time holding half-squat position

    Change in the time holding half squat position

    Time frame: 0-12 weeks

  4. Time holding half-squat position

    Change in the time holding half squat position

    Time frame: 0-6 weeks

  5. Time holding half-squat position

    Change in the time holding half squat position

    Time frame: 6-12 weeks

  6. Time holding plank position

    Change in the time holding plank position

    Time frame: 0-12 weeks

  7. Time holding plank position

    Change in the time holding plank position

    Time frame: 0-6 weeks

  8. Time holding plank position

    Change in the time holding plank position

    Time frame: 6-12 weeks

  9. Distance achieved in the sit-and-reach test

    Change in distance achieved in the sit-and-reach test

    Time frame: 0-12 weeks

  10. Distance achieved in the sit-and-reach test

    Change in distance achieved in the sit-and-reach test

    Time frame: 0-6 weeks

  11. Distance achieved in the sit-and-reach test

    Change in distance achieved in the sit-and-reach test

    Time frame: 6-12 weeks

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • University of Glasgow
    Glasgow, G12 8TA, United Kingdom
    Recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Aug 20, 2021, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04574674
Lead sponsor
University of Glasgow
Responsible party
Professor Jason Gill (Professor, University of Glasgow) — Principal investigator
First posted
Oct 5, 2020
Start date
Dec 6, 2020
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2021 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2021 (estimated)
Last update
Aug 20, 2021

Study contacts

Jason Gill, PhD
Contact
jason.gill@glasgow.ac.uk
0141 330 ext. 2916
Maria Fernanda Gabler, MSc
Contact
m.gabler-trisotti.1@research.gla.ac.uk
0141 330 ext. 7615
Jason Gill, PhD
principal investigator · University of Glasgow

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
No
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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This study is status unknown, as verified in Aug 2021. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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