title: Using absolute and relative muscle endurance to estimate maximal strength in young athletes.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of repetitions to fatigue (RTF) using absolute and relative muscle-endurance performances to estimate 1-repetition-maximum (1-RM) bench-press performance in high school male athletes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Members of high school athletic teams (n = 118, age = 16.5 +/- 1.1 y, weight = 82.7 +/- 18.7 kg) were tested for 1-RM bench press and RTF with an absolute load of 61.4 kg and a relative load that produced 7 to 10 RTF (7- to 10-RM). All participants had completed a minimum of 4 wk of resistance training before measurement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All 7- to 10-RM-prediction equations had higher correlations between predicted and actual 1-RM (r > .98) than the 61.4-kg absolute-load equation (r = .95). Despite the high correlations, only 3 of 11 equations produced predicted values that were nonsignificantly different from actual 1-RM. The best 7-to 10-RM equation predicted 65% of the athletes'performances within +/-4.5 kg of their actual 1-RM. The addition of simple anthropometric dimensions did not increase the validity correlations or decrease the prediction errors.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The 7- to 10-RM method can provide an accurate method of estimating strength levels for adjusting loads in a training program and is more accurate for predicting 1-RM bench press in high school athletes than the 61.4-kg repetition method.
authors.affiliation: Exercise Science Program, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO 63501, USA.
authors.forename: Jerry L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Mayhew
authors.forename: Sidney Palmer
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Melissa D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Eric C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Lyndsay
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wheeler
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000886:Anthropometry; D017079:Exercise Tolerance / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000502:physiology*; D055070:Resistance Training; D012574:Schools; D014891:Weight Lifting / Q000502:physiology*