Perceived Exertion During Acute Resistance Exercise Performed At Self-selected And Imposed Loads In Trained Women

Abstract

Previous research has demonstrated that untrained women report significantly lower ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) during self-selected (SS) load bouts of acute resistance exercise (RE) when compared to sessions performed using typically imposed RE loads. However, the extent to which RPE responses differ between SS and imposed-load bouts of acute RE among trained women remains unclear. PURPOSE: The purpose of this investigation was to examine RPE responses to self-selected and imposed-load bouts of acute RE in a sample of trained women. METHODS: Twenty-one (M age = 23 years) recreationally-trained women completed acute bouts of RE using loads of 40% of one repetition maximum (1RM), 70% of 1RM, and a self-selected (SS) load. RE consisted of 3 sets of 10 repetitions for each of the leg extension (LE), leg curl (LC), lat pull-down (LPD), and chest press (CP) exercises. Assessments of RPE were obtained immediately after each set during the 3 RE conditions. RESULTS: Results of separate 3 (Condition) × 3 (Set) repeated measures ANOVAs yielded significant main effects for Condition (p < 0.01) and Set (p < 0.01) for each exercise and significant Condition × Set interactions (p < 0.05) for both the LPD and CP exercises. Post-hoc analyses revealed that RPE increased from Set 1 to Set 3 for the CP and LPD exercises in both the 70% 1RM and SS conditions but did not increase across sets in the 40% condition. RPE were also found to be significantly higher in the 70% condition relative to the SS or 40% conditions and RPE reported during SS condition were higher when compared to the 40% condition for all exercises. CONCLUSIONS: The present results suggest that RPE reported during SS bouts of RE differ significantly from RPE observed during imposed-load bouts of RE. Although evidence addressing RPE responses to acute RE remains limited, effort sense experienced during acute RE may serve as a salient determinant of the adoption and maintenance of regular RE behavior. Accordingly, the differences in RPE during acute RE observed in the present investigation may have valuable practical implications for the prescription of RE participation.