In order to evaluate the importance of training speed and training dose and its effect on muscle morphology, 16 patients operated on for an anterior cruciate ligament injury were randomly divided into two groups for isokinetic training. One group trained with slow speed (60 degrees/sec), 10x10 repetitions and one group with fast speed (180 degrees/sec), 10x15 repetitions. The effect of 8 weeks training three times per week was evaluated with Cybex II strength tests, muscle biopsies, and computed tomography of the thigh muscles. No significant differences between the two groups were noted although the fast speed training group showed tendencies to increase in strength more at higher speeds than did the slow speed training group. Within the fast speed training group the increases at higher speeds were significantly larger than at slower speeds. There was also a tendency toward a larger increase of the cross-sectional area of the fast twitch fibers in the fast speed training group. There was no significant difference in the increase of the cross-sectional area of the quadriceps muscles between the two groups. The large dose of training did not yield larger increases in strength compared to one of our earlier studies that used 3x10 repetitions.

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