Type of Encouragement Influences Peak Muscle Force in College-Age Women

Abstract

To investigate if the type of encouragement during a maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) had an influence on peak muscle force in strength-trained versus untrained collegiate women. Methods: Eleven strength-trained (20.4 + 1 yr) and twelve untrained (20.8 + 1 yr) women participated in three, five-second MVICs of seated knee extension. The three trials consisted of verbal only encouragement, verbal + visual encouragement, and verbal + pain avoidance encouragement. In all three trials, the participants received the same verbal encouragement. Trials were counterbalanced to minimize any possible order effects. A repeated measure ANOVA was used to analyze data. Any significant main effects were further analyzed using Tukey post hoc tests. Results: There was no interaction between training status and encouragement type for all subjects F(2,42) = 1.5474, p = 0.22). For all subjects, a main effect for encouragement type was detected (F(2,42) = 6.616, p <0.05) with significant differences found in MVIC between the verbal encouragement and verbal + visual feedback (99.5±29 ft-lbs and 115.6±29 ft-lbs, p<0.01). No significant differences were found between the verbal only and the addition of pain avoidance (99.5±29 ft-lbs and 109.9±26.3 ft-lbs, p=0.069) or the visual and pain avoidance trials (115.6±29 ft-lbs and 109.9±26 ft-lbs, p=0.43). Conclusion: In this study, training status did not significantly influence the response to type of encouragement. Individuals produced the most force during a MVIC with verbal and visual encouragement. The incorporation of verbal encouragement and visual feedback is an important factor in eliciting peak force in college-aged women. This may have important implications in training and rehabilitation models that incorporate resistive loading of the skeletal muscles.

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