Microdosing: Old Wine in a New Bottle? Current State of Affairs and Future Avenues.

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.

Study at a glance

Abstract

PURPOSE Microdosing of exercise aims to deliver smaller daily training doses but at a higher weekly frequency, adding up to a similar weekly volume as in nonmicrodosed training. This commentary critically discusses this concept, which appears to be a rebranding of the "old" distributed practice of motor learning. DEVELOPMENT We propose that microdosing should relate to the minimal dose that develops or at least maintains the selected capacities or skills as this training dose matters to practitioners, especially during the in-season period. Moreover, microdosing has been applied mainly to develop strength and endurance, but abilities such as sprinting and changing direction could also be microdosed, as well as technical-tactical skills. CONCLUSIONS The concept of microdosing should be reframed to avoid redundancy with the concept of distributed practice while providing valuable information concerning the minimum doses that still generate the intended effects and the thresholds that determine whether a dose is "micro" or not.