Does Greater Mental Effort during Exercise Enhance Strength Adaptations in Older Women?
Disciplines
Sports Sciences
Abstract (300 words maximum)
Background: Utilizing a heightened mental effort during strength training may enhance outcomes, particularly in older adults. Despite the well-known benefits, participation levels in strength training are low, so more research is needed on accessible modalities such as elastic band (EB) training. The purpose of this study was to determine if mental effort increases physical function outcomes following EB training. Methods: As part of an ongoing study, 4 healthy, older (65-79 yrs) women were randomized into three groups: control (n=2), EB training (EB) (n=1), and EB training with mental effort (EBME) (n=1). The EBME group was instructed to “imagine their muscle contracting maximally” during each training session, whereas generic, conventional instructions were given to the EB group. The exercise groups performed 3 full-body EB training sessions per week for 6 weeks, and these sessions were virtually supervised. Before and after the intervention period, maximum walking velocity (MWV), total chair rises in 30 seconds (CR30), and number of chair rises completed in 5 seconds (CR5) were measured for each patient. Given the smaller sample sizes, percent change (pre to post) was calculated for each individual and compared across groups. Results: During MWV, EBME exhibited a 5.61% faster MWV, EB a 1.20% slower MWV, and the control a 10.24% faster MWV. In CR30, EBME demonstrated a 15.38% increase, EB a 25.00% increase, and the control a 2.22% decrease. For CR5, EBME showed an 8.00% increase, EB a 29.61% increase, and the control a 9.65% decrease. Conclusion: While our sample size is far too small for gross interpretation, our preliminary findings suggest EB training has positive effects on physical function with no apparent added benefit from using heightened mental effort. More formal analysis will be performed in the future when we have a larger sample size.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
WCHHS - Exercise Science and Sport Management
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Garret Hester
Additional Faculty
Jacob Grazer, Exercise Science and Sport Management, jgrazera@kennesaw.edu,
Robert Buresh, Exercise Science and Sport Management, rburesh@kennesaw.edu,
Does Greater Mental Effort during Exercise Enhance Strength Adaptations in Older Women?
Background: Utilizing a heightened mental effort during strength training may enhance outcomes, particularly in older adults. Despite the well-known benefits, participation levels in strength training are low, so more research is needed on accessible modalities such as elastic band (EB) training. The purpose of this study was to determine if mental effort increases physical function outcomes following EB training. Methods: As part of an ongoing study, 4 healthy, older (65-79 yrs) women were randomized into three groups: control (n=2), EB training (EB) (n=1), and EB training with mental effort (EBME) (n=1). The EBME group was instructed to “imagine their muscle contracting maximally” during each training session, whereas generic, conventional instructions were given to the EB group. The exercise groups performed 3 full-body EB training sessions per week for 6 weeks, and these sessions were virtually supervised. Before and after the intervention period, maximum walking velocity (MWV), total chair rises in 30 seconds (CR30), and number of chair rises completed in 5 seconds (CR5) were measured for each patient. Given the smaller sample sizes, percent change (pre to post) was calculated for each individual and compared across groups. Results: During MWV, EBME exhibited a 5.61% faster MWV, EB a 1.20% slower MWV, and the control a 10.24% faster MWV. In CR30, EBME demonstrated a 15.38% increase, EB a 25.00% increase, and the control a 2.22% decrease. For CR5, EBME showed an 8.00% increase, EB a 29.61% increase, and the control a 9.65% decrease. Conclusion: While our sample size is far too small for gross interpretation, our preliminary findings suggest EB training has positive effects on physical function with no apparent added benefit from using heightened mental effort. More formal analysis will be performed in the future when we have a larger sample size.