The Effect of Two Weight Training Programs with Different Fatigue on Strength Gains

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of fatigue on strength gain in resistance training by comparing high fatiguing and low fatiguing training protocols. Thirty healthy adults (age 21.26 ± 2.14 yr, height 174 ± 4 cm, weight 71.80 ± 5.83kg) with a history of greater than 6 month weight training, were matched and then randomly assigned to either a high fatigue (HF: four sets of 10 repetitions with 30 seconds rest between sets), low fatigue (LF: 40 repetitions with 30 seconds between each repetition) or control (C: without training) groups. Subjects in the two training groups undertook bench press training three times a week on average 75% of their 1 repetition maximum (1RM), for 10 weeks. The 1RM loud was determined at the end of each week. Results indicated that bench press training causes a significant increase in pectoral muscle strength in Both HF and LF groups compared with C group (p≤0.01). But, Both HF and LF resulted in similar strength gains in 1-repetition maximum bench press. It seems that fatigue in each set does not appear to be a critical stimulus for strength gain in weight training and we can reach the same results without severe discomfort and acute physical effort.