Effects of Manual Resistance Training on Fitness in Adolescents

Abstract

Manual Resistance Training (MRT), an alternative to traditional resistance training, requires minimal equipment and may be effective when applied in school-based physical education (PE) classes. The purpose of this study was to document the physical changes in adolescents (N = 222) using MRT in school-based PE settings. Six fitness tests from the Fitnessgram assessment tool were selected to assess students' cardiovascular and muscular fitness and skin-fold tests were used to assess body composition. One Control and two Experimental Groups were defined. The Control group of students (N = 129) attended regular PE classes. One Experimental group (N = 63) attended PE that was complemented by the MRT system. A second Experiment group (N = 30) attended PE complemented by MRT and cardiovascular endurance training. Using the selected Fitnessgram tests post-test measurements were done after 9 and 18 weeks of PE. At baseline, there were no significant differences between the three groups for most measures. Compared to baseline, experimental groups improved significantly in all six fitness measures and showed more improvements than the Control group in most fitness measures both at 9 and 18 weeks. None of the groups showed significant improvement in body composition. The results documented that an MRT complemented PE program was effective in improving adolescents' muscular fitness. An 18-week combined MRT and cardiovascular endurance training program effectively improved cardiovascular and muscular fitness but was ineffective in improving adolescent body composition. An MRT based exercise session requires minimal equipment and set-up, and can be performed in a short period of time, therefore it is suitable for application in regular PE settings.

Training Success for U.S. Air Force Special Operations and Combat Support Specialties: An Analysis of Recruiting, Screening, and Development Processes

“…Measures of fitness tend to be the most important predictors of technical training success for candidates in the six HDHA specialties, especially for PJ candidates, who have the highest risk of attrition (see Appendix C). Fitness is malleable, and prior research can help to benchmark assumptions about the gains that are possible to achieve through development of candidate fitness (e.g., Dorgo et al, 2009). Additionally, the focus on PJ fitness is more informative to current Air Force efforts already seeking to maintain or increase fitness for PJ candidates prior to the development course (such as during BMT).…”

“…The study compared different training programs over an 18-week period, but we selected the fitness gains from the nine-week midpoint from the broadest training program, which included 80-minute class sessions three times a week (Dorgo et al, 2009). The gains made in this program are typical of other studies examining fitness changes following a training intervention (e.g., Courtright, 2013;Knapik et al, 2006).…”

“…One additional limitation of applying the results in Dorgo et al (2009) is that the study did not measure improvements in swimming performance, which is extremely important to success in PJ training. As a substitute, we also apply the rate of improvement for running performance to the 500-meter swim event.…”

“…As a substitute, we also apply the rate of improvement for running performance to the 500-meter swim event. This assumption is potentially conservative, as running performance showed the smallest relative improvements in Dorgo et al (2009), and it is also plausible, as swimming includes a combination of cardiovascular endurance and skill, which can be trained.…”

“…An important concern to note for this simulation is that the students in the population who Dorgo et al (2009) examine differ significantly from the individuals that the Air Force recruits for HDHA specialties. The high school students in the reference study had significantly lower levels of fitness at the start of the program than recruits entering the PJ pipeline, so they may have experienced faster average growth in fitness than one would expect to see in a population that was relatively fit to begin with.…”