The purpose of this study was to identify hindlimb muscle atrophy in stroke induced rat and determine the effect of endurance exercise on body weight, weight of hindlimb muscle during 7 days after stroke induction. Thirty four male Sprague-Dawley rats with 200-270g body weight were divided into four groups : control, control+exercise(Con+Ex), stroke, and exercise after stroke(St+Ex) group. The control group and Con+Ex group received sham operation and the stroke group and St+Ex group received right MCA occlusion operation by using silicon-coated probe. The Con+Ex and St+Ex groups ran on a treadmill for 20min/day at 10m/min and 10 grade. Daily body weight and diet intake were measured every morning for 7 days. Cerebral infarction of stroke and St+Ex groups were identified by staining with TCC for 30minutes. The data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test using the SPSSWIN 9.0 program. Body weight of the control group at the 7th day increased by 18.3% significantly from the first day of experiment, that of the stroke group at the 7th day decreased by 6.7% significantly compared to the day of receiving right MCA occlusion operation. Body weight of the Con+Ex group at the 7th day increased by 10.3% significantly from the first day of experiment, that of St+Ex group at the 7th day also increased by 13.4% significantly compared to the day of receiving right MCA occlusion operation. The total amount of diet in stroke group decreased significantly compared to that of St+Ex and that of control group. In stroke group the wet weight of both sides of soleus, plantaris, and gastrocnemius muscles decreased significantly compared to that of control group. The relative weight of affected(left) plantaris and gastrocnemius muscles decreased significantly compared to that of the control group. The difference between the weight of affected and unaffected soleus, plantaris, and gastrocnemius muscles were not significant in stroke group. The wet weight of right gastrocnemius muscles in Con+Ex group increased compared to that of control group. The relative weight of right gastrocnemius muscle increased significantly compared to that of the control group. The wet weight of St+Ex group increased significantly compared to that of the stroke group in both sides of soleus, plantaris, and gastrocnemius muscles. The relative weight of affected plantaris muscle increased significantly compared to that of the stroke group. The difference between the weight of affected and unaffected soleus, plantaris, and gastrocnemius muscles were not significant in St+Ex group. Body weight and wet weight of soleus, plantaris, and gastrocnemius muscles in the St+Ex group did not recover to the values of control group. Based on these results, it can be suggested that endurance exercise during acute stage of stroke can reduce muscle atrophy related to denervation, inactivity and undernutrition.