title: Variability of strength measurement in postmenopausal women who are overweight or obese: a Monet study.
abstract: The main objective of this study was to establish whether a stable measurement of strength could be obtained without prior exercise familiarization in postmenopausal women who were overweight or obese. A second objective was to evaluate the influence of physical activity on the variability of strength measurement. Thirty postmenopausal women (age: 57.9 yr; SD: 5 yr; body mass index: 31.0 kg/m2; SD: 4 kg/m2) underwent 3 strength testing sessions (48 hr apart) each including 3 exercises (leg press, chest press, and lat pull down). Energy expenditure was measured before the strength testing week with the doubly labelled water method over a 10-day period. Resting metabolic rate was measured by indirect calorimetry. Physical activity energy expenditure was calculated as follows: total energy expenditure x 0.9, minus the resting metabolic rate. Repeated analysis of variance and paired t-test were used to assess the difference and the reliability of the testing sequence. Results from leg press and chest press exercises indicated no significant difference among the 3 testing sessions. The lat pull down exercise was associated with a significant systematic bias between sessions 1 and 2 (mean difference: 1.4 kg; SD: 3 kg; 95% confidence intervals; 0.2-2.7 kg), but the difference disappeared at the third testing session (mean difference: 0.7 kg; SD: 3 kg; 95% confidence intervals; 0.5-2 kg). Physical activity did not influence the variability of the strength results. Overall, our results showed that a relatively stable strength measurement can be obtained within a maximum of 3 testing sessions without prior familiarization. In addition, physical activity did not influence strength testing in postmenopausal women who were overweight or obese.
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: St-Onge
authors.forename: Marie-Eve
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mathieu
authors.forename: Benoit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tousignant
authors.forename: May
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Faraj
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lavoie
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015982:Bias; D001823:Body Composition; D002153:Calorimetry, Indirect; D004038:Diet, Reducing; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005080:Exercise Test / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D053580:Muscle Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000503:physiopathology; D050177:Overweight / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000502:physiology*; D011792:Quebec; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D055070:Resistance Training / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D057185:Sedentary Behavior