Let the Pleasure Guide Your Resistance Training Intensity

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and reliability of the Feeling Scale (FS) to self-regulate resistance training (RT) intensity.

Methods: Sixteen sedentary men (39.7 ± 7.5 yr) performed 3 familiarization sessions, 2 one-repetition maximum (1RM) testing, and 16 RT sessions (four sessions for each FS descriptor; randomized). The FS descriptors were "very good" (FS + 5), "good" (FS + 3), "fairly good" (FS + 1), and "fairly bad" (FS - 1). Resistance exercises were leg press, chest press, knee extension, and seated biceps curl. Participants were instructed to select a load associated with the verbal/numerical descriptor of the FS to perform three sets of 10 repetitions.

Results: Participants lifted a significantly greater %1RM as the FS level decreased from FS + 5 to FS - 1 (P < 0.001). The mean %1RM values for the FS descriptors of +5, +3, +1, and -1, respectively, were as follows: leg press, 42.5% ± 9.5%, 58.2% ± 7.4%, 69.9% ± 7.0%, and 80.7% ± 5.4%; knee extensor, 37.4% ± 9.6%, 54.5% ± 9.3%, 65.3% ± 8.7%, and 78.2% ± 5.9%; chest press, 42.4% ± 11.3%, 54.9% ± 11.4%, 66.4% ± 12.6%, and 78.2% ± 13.5%; and biceps curl, 39.0% ± 8.1%, 54.0% ± 9.7%, 68.4% ± 5.9%, and 83.2% ± 3.0%. The interclass correlation coefficient over the four experimental sessions ranged from 0.73 to 0.99 for %1RM and from 0.77 to 0.99 for weight lifted, with a coefficient of variation of approximately 7%, 4%, 2%, and 2% for FS descriptors of +5, +3, +1, and -1, respectively.

Conclusion: This study is the first to demonstrate that the FS can be used to self-regulate exercise intensity in RT. The lower the FS descriptor, the higher the weight lifted. In addition, the load self-selected for each FS descriptor was reliable across the four sessions.