Training leading to repetition failure ehances bench press strength gains in athletes

[LakeMountD]

Training leading to repetition failure enhances bench press strength gains in elite junior athletes.

Drinkwater EJ, Lawton TW, Lindsell RP, Pyne DB, Hunt PH, McKenna MJ.

Department of Physiology, Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra, ACT, Australia. drinkwater@csu.edu.au

The purpose of this study was to investigate the importance of training leading to repetition failure in the performance of 2 different tests: 6 repetition maximum (6RM) bench press strength and 40-kg bench throw power in elite junior athletes. Subjects were 26 elite junior male basketball players (n = 12; age = 18.6 +/- 0.3 years; height = 202.0 +/- 11.6 cm; mass = 97.0 +/- 12.9 kg; mean +/- SD) and soccer players (n = 14; age = 17.4 +/- 0.5 years; height = 179.0 +/- 7.0 cm; mass = 75.0 +/- 7.1 kg) with a history of greater than 6 months' strength training. Subjects were initially tested twice for 6RM bench press mass and 40-kg Smith machine bench throw power output (in watts) to establish retest reliability. Subjects then undertook bench press training with 3 sessions per week for 6 weeks, using equal volume programs (24 repetitions x 80-105% 6RM in 13 minutes 20 seconds). Subjects were assigned to one of two experimental groups designed either to elicit repetition failure with 4 sets of 6 repetitions every 260 seconds (RF(4 x 6)) or allow all repetitions to be completed with 8 sets of 3 repetitions every 113 seconds (NF(8 x 3)). The RF(4 x 6) treatment elicited substantial increases in strength (7.3 +/- 2.4 kg, +9.5%, p < 0.001) and power (40.8 +/- 24.1 W, +10.6%, p < 0.001), while the NF(8 x 3) group elicited 3.6 +/- 3.0 kg (+5.0%, p < 0.005) and 25 +/- 19.0 W increases (+6.8%, p < 0.001). The improvements in the RF(4 x 6) group were greater than those in the repetition rest group for both strength (p < 0.005) and power (p < 0.05). Bench press training that leads to repetition failure induces greater strength gains than nonfailure training in the bench press exercise for elite junior team sport athletes.

[bioman]

That's probably true when your median age is 18. At 33..notsomuch, it overtrains me pretty quickly

[guyfromkop2]

the only study i follow when it comes to lifting weights is eat+lift+sleep=you grow

[LakeMountD]

That's probably true when your median age is 18. At 33..notsomuch, it overtrains me pretty quickly

Ehh you gotta remember bro that these studies aren't done on an entire workout. The volume is considerably low. As you age and those androgen+hGH+iGF levels start to drop off the volume has to get decreased.

I was just posting cause it was interesting.

[meowmeow]

I was 18.6 +/- 0.3 years old once. Sigh.

[DL king]

The ones doing 8x3reps were not training in the 6rep range, he ones doing 4x6 were, clearly their 6RM will be better because they have actually trained for it. I bet if they tried to find their 3RM's the 8x3 ones would have been better.