The Weight of Choice: How Training Load Affects Your Workout Experience
New research reveals that lighter weights may lead to greater discomfort and negative feelings compared to moderate loads in resistance-trained men.
The study titled "Acute Effects of Different Training Loads on Affective Responses in Resistance-trained Men" (PMID: 31499564) investigates how varying training loads impact perceived exertion, discomfort, and feelings of pleasure or displeasure among resistance-trained men.
Key Points
Participants: The study involved twelve resistance-trained men with an average age of 26.7 years, weight of 85.1 kg, and height of 174.9 cm.
Methodology: Participants performed three sets of bench press, squat on a hack machine, and lat pulldown to volitional concentric failure under two conditions:
Moderate Load (MOD): 8-12 repetitions maximum (RM)
Light Load (LIT): 25-30 RM
Measurements: After each session, participants rated:
Session Rating of Perceived Exertion (sRPE)
Session Rating of Perceived Discomfort (sRPD)
Session Pleasure/Displeasure Feelings (sPDF)
Findings:
The results showed that the light load condition resulted in significantly higher scores for both sRPE and sRPD compared to the moderate load condition:
sRPE: MOD = 5.5 vs. LIT = 6.4
sRPD: MOD = 6.7 vs. LIT = 8.7
In terms of affective responses, the MOD condition elicited feelings of pleasure (sPDF = +1.2), while the LIT condition led to feelings of displeasure (sPDF = -2.3).