A positive affective experience, making exercise more pleasurable, less stressful, achieving greater satisfaction and intrinsic motivation experience through resistance training may be accomplished by performing self-selected exercises. These exercises can also lead to other health-related and performance outcomes. Thus, this study aimed to analyze the effects of a short-term self-selected resistance training on levels of anxiety and depression in sedentary individuals. Twenty-one individuals, aged between 20 and 50 years, were assigned to Training Group (TG) and Control Group (CG). The TG underwent 4 weeks of resistance training, 2 sessions per week, with self-selected intensities. Anxiety and depression scores were collected before and after intervention using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). The results showed that the TG presented a significant reduction in anxiety scores (8.9±2.0 to 7.1±2.1; p=0.008) with a large effect size (d=0.71). Depression scores showed no significant difference after intervention (6.3±2.6 to 5.4±2.6; p=0.094), with a small effect size (d=0.346). The CG showed slight non-significant increase in depression scores (6.3±3.1 to 6.8±3.7; p=0.297), with small effect size (d= 0.146). In conclusion, resistance training with self-selected intensity reduced anxiety scores and kept depression scores in a healthy level in sedentary individuals.

Background: Futsal is one of the most popular sport in Brazil with millions of players worldwide. It is characterized by intermittent stimuli of high intensity anaerobic actions. Recently, studies have shown that imagery resistance training (IRT), like conventional strength training, can increase muscle strength, making it reasonable to think that this effect can also be transferred to muscle power. Purposes: we aimed to verify the acute responses of IRT on muscle power in teenage Futsal players. Methods: fifteen Futsal athletes were enrolled and underwent three visits to the laboratory: 1) familiarization with the resistance exercise they would undergo; 2) one them for vertical jump test after the IRT session and the other one for control session, without any intervention before vertical jump test. Sessions 2 and 3 being applied in random order. Results: the results indicate that acute IRT improved muscle performance, since it produced higher power output [3134.5 Watts (2744 - 3796.3)] than control session [2952.4 Watts (2637.55 - 3433.45)] (Z=3.4078; p=0.0007). In addition, all participants in IRT group showed some improvement after the IRT session. Conclusions: a single imagery resistance exercise session can increase acute muscle power output in teenage Futsal athletes.