JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCE & MEDICINE |
Research article |
USING BENCH PRESS LOAD TO PREDICT UPPER BODY EXERCISE LOADS IN PHYSICALLY ACTIVE INDIVIDUALS | |||||||||
Del P. Wong, Kwan-Lung Ngo, Michael A. Tse and Andrew W. Smith | |||||||||
Human Performance Laboratory, Department of Health and Physical Education, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong | |||||||||
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© Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2013) 12, 38 - 43 | |||||||||
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ABSTRACT | |||||||||||||
This study investigated whether loads for assistance exercises of the upper body can be predicted from the loads of the bench press exercise. Twenty-nine physically active collegiate students (age: 22.6 ± 2.5; weight training experience: 2.9 ± 2.1 years; estimated 1RM bench press: 54.31 ± 14.60 kg; 1RM: body weight ratio: 0.80 ± 0.22; BMI: 22.7 ± 2.1 kg·m-2) were recruited. The 6RM loads for bench press, barbell bicep curl, overhead dumbbell triceps extension, hammer curl and dumbbell shoulder press were measured. Test-retest reliability for the 5 exercises as determined by Pearson product moment correlation coefficient was very high to nearly perfect (0.82-0.98, p < 0.01). The bench press load was significantly correlated with the loads of the 4 assistance exercises (r ranged from 0.80 to 0.93, p < 0.01). Linear regression revealed that the bench press load was a significant (R2 range from 0.64 to 0.86, p < 0.01) predictor for the loads of the 4 assistance exercises. The following 6RM prediction equations were determined: (a) Hammer curl = Bench press load (0.28) + 6.30 kg, (b) Barbell biceps curl = Bench press load (0.33) + 6.20 kg, (c) Overhead triceps extension = Bench press load (0.33) - 0.60 kg, and (d) Dumbbell shoulder press = Bench press load (0.42) + 5.84 kg. The difference between the actual load and the predicted load using the four equations ranged between 6.52% and 8.54%, such difference was not significant. Fitness professionals can use the 6RM bench press load as a time effective and accurate method to predict training loads for upper body assistance exercises. Key words: Strength training, resistance training, training load, weight, repetition maximum. |
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INTRODUCTION | |||||||||||||
Among upper body, multi-joint training exercises, the bench press is one of the most frequently used exercises (Koshida et al., 2008; Schick et al., 2010). Prime movers for the bench press exercise include pectoralis major, anterior deltoid, and triceps brachii muscles (Ojasto and Hakkinen, 2009). Owing to the multi-joint nature of this exercise, where movement occurs simultaneously at the shoulder and elbow joints, the aforementioned muscle groups can be strengthened simultaneously (Schick et al., 2010). In contrast, single-joint exercises such as the flat dumbbell fly or triceps extension, where movement occurs only at the shoulder or elbow joint, respectively, strengthen only one or two muscle groups acting around these individual joints (Baechle and Earle, 2008). |
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METHODS | |||||||||||||
Experimental approach to the problem Participants Procedures Exercise guideline Statistical analyses |
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RESULTS | |
The 6RM loads for the 5 exercises are presented in Table 1. Test-retest reliability for the 5 exercises was very high to nearly perfect (Table 1), and the coefficient of variation was 17.6-26.9%. Results showed that 6RM bench press load was significantly correlated with the other 4 upper-body exercises' 6RM loads: hammer curl (r = 0.80, very high, p < 0.01), barbell biceps curl (r = 0.90, very high, p < 0.01), overhead triceps extension (r = 0.93, nearly perfect, p < 0.01), and dumbbell shoulder press (r = 0.87, very high, p < 0.01). |
DISCUSSION | |||||||||||||
The aim of this study was to investigate whether upper body assistance exercises can be predicted from the major bench press exercise 6RM load in a similar way that previous studies were able to predict lower body assistance exercise loads from the lower body major squat exercise load (Ebben et al., 2008; Ebben et al., 2010; Wong et al. 2010b). The results confirmed our hypothesis that the lower body predictive method could be applied to upper body exercises. Previous findings support the present results in that there is a high correlation between the weight lifted in a major multi-joint exercises and that which can be lifted in assistance exercises, suggesting the former may be a good predictor for exercises that demonstrate similar agonist and antagonist muscle movements (Ebben et al., 2008; Ebben et al., 2010; Wong et al., 2010b). This study shown that test-retest reliability of the 6RM load measurement on upper body exercise ranged from very high to nearly perfect, indicating a reliable within-participant measurement of all exercises used in the present study. Through the formulation of linear regression equations, the time required to determine upper body exercises loads could be substantially reduced by avoiding the trial and error method. Nonetheless, the large coefficient of variation (17.6-26.9%) may imply large between-participant variance in this group of physically active individuals, and thus coaches should pay special attention when using the equations developed by this study. |
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | |
This project was funded by the small scale research fund, Department of Health and Physical Education, The Hong Kong Institute of Education. |
AUTHORS BIOGRAPHY | |
Del P. WONG Employment: Associate Professor in Technological and Higher Education Degree: DPhil Research interests: S E-mail: delwong@alumni.cuhk.net | |
Kwan-Lung NGO Employment: Sport Science Testing Assistant in Hong Kong Sports Institute, Hong Kong. Degree: BEd Research interests: S E-mail: neo123hk@gmail.com | |
Michael A. TSE Employment: Assistant Director in the Degree: PhD Research interests: Physical activity, E-mail: matse@hku.hk | |
Andrew SMITH Employment: Associate Professor in Department of Health and Physical Education, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong. Degree: PhD Research interests: Gait and balance, and sport biomechanics. E-mail: smith@ied.edu.hk |