Microdosing flywheel resistance training—five short daily sessions per week—improved muscle thickness, fascicle length, and fascicle angle in the thigh muscles of active individuals, while once-weekly training with the same total volume did not. Both regimens similarly increased leg strength and jump performance. However, the microdosing group reported much lower perceived exertion and muscle soreness throughout the six-week program. The findings suggest that spreading resistance training into small daily doses can enhance muscle architecture and reduce fatigue, offering a practical alternative for athletes with congested schedules or people in rehabilitation.
Microdosing of exercise—delivering smaller daily training doses at higher weekly frequency to match a similar weekly volume as nonmicrodosed training—may simply be a rebranding of the older concept of distributed practice in motor learning. The authors argue that microdosing should instead refer to the minimal dose that develops or maintains selected capacities or skills, which matters especially during in-season periods. While microdosing has been applied mainly to strength and endurance, it could also be applied to sprinting, changing direction, and technical-tactical skills. The concept should be reframed to avoid redundancy with distributed practice and to clarify minimum effective doses and thresholds for what counts as a microdose.