Sex Comparisons for Very Short-Term Dynamic Constant External Resistance Training

This study compared sex responses for strength and barbell velocity from very short-term resistance training (VST, consisting of 2-3 training sessions) for an upper body dynamic constant external resistance (DCER) exercise (bench press [BP]). Ten females (mean ± standard deviation (SD) age: 21.3 ± 3 years, height: 166.2 ± 6 cm, body mass: 71.4 ± 10.7 kg) and 10 males (mean ± SD age: 24.6 ± 4 years, height: 179.5 ± 8 cm, body mass: 88.6 ± 11 kg) completed a pre-test visit to determine the BP 1 repetition maximum (1RM) as well as the mean (BP_MV) and peak (BP_PV) barbell velocities from the BP 1RM. The VST involved three training visits where the participants performed 5 sets of 6 repetitions, at 65% of the 1RM. The post-test followed the same procedures as the pre-test visit. There were significant increases in 1RM strength for both the males (5.1%) and females (5.4%) between pre-test and post-test. There were no significance differences between sex for mean (BP_MV) and peak (BP_PV); however, overall there was a 32.7% increase in BP_MV and a 29.8% increase in BP_PV. These findings indicated an increase in strength and barbell velocity for both males and females as a result of VST upper body DCER exercise in untrained subjects.