Changes in the Muscle Strength of the Elbow Flexors Following a Six-week Experimental Procedure in Adolescents Monitored Through Isokinetic and Motor Tests

Abstract

A group of 7 subjects underwent an experimental procedure which studied the potential changes in the maximal strength of the non-dominant arm elbow flexors. The programme duration was limited to 6 weeks during which the subjects practiced exercises 3 times a week, 3 series, on a Scott bench. Individual approach was applied to the external load and it was designed so that the weight being lifted would increase if the number of lifts in one series would exceed 3. The subjects were monitored through the one-repetition maximum 1 RM motor test and the isokinetic tests performed on biodex system, tested in 3 time periods (at the beginning, after 3 weeks, and after the 6th week). Of the 6 isokinetic tests, only the test for the maximum torque and the time for achieving the maximum torque have shown statistically important changes in terms of reduction in values, which was not expected. The one-repetition maximum test, unlike the isokinetic tests, has shown statistically important increase of the maximal muscle strength of 32.1% after the third week of exercising, and 46.8% after the six weeks of exercising. The statistical test for the correlation between the two variables has shown low correlation between these two tests. The values of the data of the two test types have not shown any correspondence among the subjects possibly due to the type of performance of the maximal muscle load during exercises, performed in conditions identical to the one-repetition maximum test, with similar and yet different conditions in the case of isokinetic tests. Most probably, due to the conditions in which the exercises and the tests took place, there is difference in the obtained results.