Affiliations: [a] Department of Physical Education and Sport, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Granada, Spain | [b] Center for Exercise and Sport Science Research, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA, Australia
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Amador García-Ramos, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Granada, Ctra. Alfacar, s/n, 18011, Granada, Spain. Tel.: +34 677815348; Fax: +34 958244369; E-mail:amagr@ugr.es
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The load that maximizes power output, commonly called
``optimal load'', has received wide attention for training and testing
purposes. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the reproducibility in the determination of
the load that maximizes mean power (MP), mean propulsive power (MPP), and
peak power (PP) during the bench press (BP) and bench press throw (BPT)
exercises. METHODS: Twenty-two men conducted 4 evaluations after a preliminary
BP 1-repetition maximum (1RM) determination. In a counterbalanced order,
subjects performed 2 sessions of BP in one week and 2 sessions of BPT in
another week. MP, MPP, and PP at each tenth percentile (20-70% of 1RM)
were recorded on each testing day. Two procedures were used to determine the
individual optimal load: (1) Absolute: individual load with the highest power output;
(2) Predicted: obtained from the parabolic load-power relationship. RESULTS: While acceptable reproducibility was found for MP in both
exercises and procedures (ICC: 0.85-0.96; CV: 2.7%-12.2%), low
reproducibility was obtained for MPP (ICC: -0.20-0.60; CV:
21.1%-29.3%), and PP (ICC: 0.42-0.78; CV: 17.8%-20.9%). CONCLUSIONS: The low reproducibility associated with the
determination of the optimal load suggests that it may be unnecessary to
look for a single optimal load for training.
Keywords: Bench press, bench press throw, mean power, mean propulsive power, peak power
