FAMILIARIZATION INDEXES IN SESSIONS OF 1-RM TESTS IN ADULT WOMEN

Soares-Caldeira, LF, Ritti-Dias, RM, Okuno, NM, Cyrino, ES, Gurjao, ALD, and Ploutz-Snyder, LL. Familiarization indexes in sessions of 1-RM tests in adult women. J Strength Cond Res 23(7): 2039-2045, 2009-The objective of this study was to evaluate the familiarization to the 1-repetition maximum (1-RM) test in adult women with previous experience in resistance training and to compare the statistical methods to analyze familiarization. Twenty-seven women, with previous experience in resistance training but detrained for 6 months, participated in the study (21.6 +/- 2.5 years; 59.1 +/- 6.7 kg; 1.65 +/- 0.04 m; 21.8 +/- 2.4 kg/m(2)). The 1-RM test was used to verify the strength levels in 3 exercises: bench press, squat, and arm curl. Five 1-RM tests sessions were performed in distinct days. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures, intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), and Bland-Altman plotting procedures were used to compare the 1-RM load between the familiarization sessions. The significance assumed was p < 0.05. All exercises presented good ICC between 1-RM familiarization sessions (0.97-0.98). However, there were significant increases in 1-RM load among the 5 sessions of 1-RM tests in the bench press (+5.7%), squat (+5.4%), and arm curl (+11.1%). In addition, there were different responses according to the statistical analyses used (ANOVA, higher 1-RM strength, and Bland-Altman plotting). The results of the present study suggest that familiarization sessions are important for an accurate assessment of 1-RM load even in subjects with previous experience in resistance training.