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Abstract
The effects of three resistance training programs on muscular strength and on absolute and relative muscular endurance were investigated. Forty-three male college students were randomly assigned to the training protocols. The high resistance-low repetition group (n = 15) performed three sets of 6–8 RM (repetition maximum) per session. The medium resistance-medium repetition subjects (n = 16) trained by doing two sets of 30–40 RM per session, while the low resistance-high repetition group (n = 12) used a single set of 100–150 RM. All subjects trained with the bench press exercise three times per week for nine weeks. Tests of strength (1-RM), absolute and relative endurance were administered before and after training. Statistical analyses revealed that the 20% improvement in maximum strength by the high resistance-low repetition group was greater than the 8 and 5% gains reported for the medium resistance-medium repetition and low resistance-high repetition groups, respectively. Relative to absolute endurance, however, the 41 percent and 39 percent improvements registered by the low resistance-high repetition and medium resistance-medium repetition groups, respectively, were not significantly greater than the 28% gain reported for the high resistance-low repetition group. Results for the relative endurance test revealed that the high resistance-low repetition group's performance actually decreased by 7% after training, and was significantly poorer than the 22% and 28% improvements made by the other two groups. It was concluded that human skeletal muscle makes both general and specific adaptations to a training stimulus, and that the balance of these adaptations is to some extent dependent upon the intensity and duration of the training protocol used.