Affective Responses to Acute Resistance Exercise Performed at Self-Selected and Imposed Loads in Trained Women

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the affective responses to acute resistance exercise (RE) performed at self-selected (SS) and imposed loads in recreationally trained women. Secondary purposes were to (a) examine differences in correlates of motivation for future participation in RE and (b) determine whether affective responses to RE were related to these select motivational correlates of RE participation. Twenty recreationally trained young women (mean age = 23 years) completed 3 RE sessions involving 3 sets of 10 repetitions using loads of 40% of 1 repetition maximum (1RM), 70% 1RM, and an SS load. Affective responses were assessed before, during, and after each RE session using the Feeling Scale. Self-efficacy and intention for using the imposed and SS loads for their regular RE participation during the next month were also assessed postexercise. Results revealed that although the SS and imposed load RE sessions yielded different trajectories of change in affect during exercise (p < 0.01), comparable improvements in affect emerged after RE. Additionally, the SS condition was associated with the highest ratings of self-efficacy and intention for future RE participation (p < 0.01), but affective responses to acute RE were unrelated to self-efficacy or intention. It is concluded that acute bouts of SS and imposed load RE resulted in comparable improvements in affect; recreationally trained women reported the highest self-efficacy and intention to use the load chosen in SS condition in their own resistance training; and affective responses were unrelated to motivational correlates of resistance training.

Self-Selected Training Load and RPE During Resistance and Aerobic Training Among Recreational Exercisers

“…The self-selection of lower than recommended RT intensity agrees with other studies finding self-selected RT intensities of 42% 1RM in older women (Elsangedy et al, 2013), 56% 1RM in untrained college women (Focht, 2007), and 42% to 57% 1RM in untrained men and women (Glass & Stanton, 2004). The present and previous findings suggest that trained young (24 years) women (Focht et al, 2015) and men (Portugal, Lattari, Santos, & Deslandes, 2015) do not self-select RT intensities within the recommended training zone (67%-85% 1RM) for producing improvements in muscular strength and hypertrophy. However, this does not mean that gains in strength or hypertrophy do not occur using lower self-selected intensities than recommended by the NSCA (Sheppard & Triplett, 2016).…”

Affective Responses From Different Modalities of Resistance Exercise: Timing Matters!

“…The affective responses from exercise are the feelings of pleasure and displeasure experienced during an exercise bout (Williams et al, 2008). The current body of evidence suggests that RE performed with moderate loads [50-70% one repetition-maximum (RM)] is perceived as pleasant both during and following exercise (Arent et al, 2005;Focht et al, 2015;Cavarretta et al, 2018).…”

“…Once researchers began measuring affect during aerobic exercise, conclusions became more elusive. While recent research has measured affect during resistance exercise (Focht et al, 2015;Greene and Petruzzello, 2015;Portugal et al, 2015), all previous experiments have done so after the completion of a set and not during a loaded muscular contraction. Investigating how affect changes throughout a set may have important implications for developing theories to explain the affective phenomena of RE.…”

Exergaming: Feels good despite working harder

“…Evidence from studies including children [ 10 , 11 ], young adults [ 12 ], and older adults [ 13 ] support this pattern. Further, when the exercise intensity is prescribed, rather than self-selected or a preferred intensity, the affective responses have been shown to be more negative [ 6 , 7 ].…”