The Effect of External Dissociative Stimuli on Plank Duration Performed by Male Collegiate Soccer Players.

Abstract

D'Agata, MN, Staub, JP, Scavone, DJ, and Kane, GM. The effect of external dissociative stimuli on plank duration performed by male collegiate soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 37(5): e341-e345, 2023-Individuals commonly use music as an external auditory stimulus to divert their attention away from aerobic endurance exercise tasks. Music generally results in lower ratings of perceived exertion, which may be the mechanism by which it increases aerobic exercise task duration. However, less is known regarding how music affects the performance of other forms of exercise, such as isometric exercise. Moreover, the effects of different external stimuli on isometric task duration, such as the use of virtual reality (VR), have yet to be investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of self-selected music (SSM) and VR on isometric exercise task duration using a forearm plank. We hypothesized that both SSM and VR would effectively increase plank duration compared with no external stimuli. Seventeen male collegiate soccer players (19 ± 1 year) completed 3 planks to failure on 3 separate days, with 48-72 hours between the trials. The ordering of each exercise condition (SSM, VR, or None) was randomized for a total of 6 potential orders. A one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to evaluate differences in plank duration and average heart rate (HR avg ) between each trial, and significance was set at p < 0.05. There were no differences in plank duration (SSM: 200 ± 44, VR: 173 ± 38, None: 177 ± 37 seconds) or HR avg (SSM: 96 ± 18, VR: 92 ± 21, None: 87 ± 18 beats per minute) between the conditions. We conclude that there was no effect of external stimuli (SSM or VR) on isometric exercise task duration and the use of these modalities should be based on exerciser preference.