Effects of Partner's Improvisational Resistance Training on Dancers' Muscular Strength

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to observe the effects of Partner's Improvisational Resistance Training (PIRT) on muscular strength, body circumference, and body fat percentage in 10 female college-age dancers in comparison with 8 female dancers in a control group. The PIRT program, based on the concepts of manual resistance training, is the application of contact improvisation in a systematic strength development program, which proposes a way of contextualizing muscular strength development within the dance class. The program lasted 8 weeks, meeting 3 times weekly for 60-minute sessions. The muscular strength pre- and posttests included 1-repetition maximum (1RM) for leg extension, leg flexion, leg press, bench press, lat pulldown, back extension, and modified sit-up. Hydrostatic weighing for body composition and circumference measures on the waist, hip, shoulder, upper arm, and thigh were made pre- and posttest analyses. There were no significant pretest differences between the groups for age, height, body weight, body fat percentage, any of the circumference measures, or 5 of the 7 muscular strength measures. At posttest, neither group showed significant changes in total body weight, body fat percentage, or lean body weight. The experimental group showed significant decrements in the waist and hip circumference measures, and all other body circumference changes were nonsignificant. The experimental group showed significant changes from pretest to posttest for all seven 1RM strength measures and greater absolute and relative strength improvements in 5 measures compared with the control group. Thus, the 8-week PIRT program for female dancers was found effective in improving overall muscular strength and decreasing circumference in the waist-hip region, but it did not elicit significant changes in body composition.

Effects of Manual Resistance Training on Fitness in Adolescents

“…To establish an effective training position or exercise set-up for MRT only limited equipment is necessary, which may include benches, chairs, tables, step boxes, PVC pipes and straps. The application of MRT in adults has been shown to result in improved fitness and muscular strength (7,19,27), and improvements may be comparable to those achieved through traditional weight resistance training (8). However, no known data exists for this training method in adolescents.…”

The Effects of Manual Resistance Training on Improving Muscle Strength of the Lower Extremities of the Community Dwelling Elderly -A Clinical Intervention Study with A Control Group-

“…Moreover, the percent-increase rate of the group with high muscle strength was lower than that of the group with low muscle strength. Although the number of prior studies which have focused only on the effects of MRT is limited, the effects of MRT on increase in muscle strength were reported [14][15][16] . Vetter et al 15) and Dorgo et al 16) employed university students who obviously have higher muscle strength than elderly people in their study.…”

“…However, we could find no study in the literature which solely observed the effects of MRT among elderly people. We found only a few studies, such as a case study of patients with muscle dystrophy and an intervention study with young adults as subjects [14][15][16] . This meant that components of MRT, i.e.…”

A influência do controle subjetivo de intensidade sobre fadiga percebida e lactato capilar em duas formas de treinamento resistido

“…However, considering that only a small portion of the world population attend gyms 5 , recent studies have suggested alternative forms that do not depend on equipment in order to permit the application of RT in nonspecific environments and places such as residential condominiums, hospitals, clinics, basic health units, universities, schools, and companies, among others [6][7][8][9] . One alternative of RT that is being investigated is manual resistance training (MRT) [7][8][9][10] , a concept that uses manual resistance imposed by a second person in the direction opposite to the movement performed by the exercising subject ( Figure 1A, 1B). Previous studies have shown that MRT is effective in increasing strength levels in different populations [7][8][9][10] .…”

“…One alternative of RT that is being investigated is manual resistance training (MRT) [7][8][9][10] , a concept that uses manual resistance imposed by a second person in the direction opposite to the movement performed by the exercising subject ( Figure 1A, 1B). Previous studies have shown that MRT is effective in increasing strength levels in different populations [7][8][9][10] . Furthermore, the effects of MRT are similar to those of free weight resistance training (FWRT) as long as the volume and intensity are comparable 7,11 .…”