Quantitative Analysis of the Effect of Resistance Training on Strength Test Score Variability

摘要

This report extended an initial qualitative demonstration that test score variability increases during resistance training. Quantitative methods were applied to individual strength test data from 46 published studies. Analyses were limited to the four strength tests that were most often administered to experimental and control groups in the same study: bench press, leg press, biceps curl, and squat. A total of 97 contrasts of pretraining variation with posttraining variation were available for analysis because some studies administered more than one test and/or administered tests to more than one experimental group. Conducting separate analyses for each strength test eliminated statistical problems associated with having correlated observations. Resistance training increased test score variation on each of the four strength tests. Increased variation in test scores indicate a specific training programs are more effective for some individuals than others. This observation could be a point of departure for research to identify specific participant characteristics to guide decisions when matching individuals to training programs.