An interventional study of Elastic Band Training and Elastic Band Training with Maximal Mental Effort in Healthy, sponsored by Kennesaw State University. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to female participants aged 65 Years to 79 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-12-11.
Sponsored by Kennesaw State University · Not applicable, Interventional, and Other
The goal of this clinical trial is to determine the effect of maximal mental effort combined with elastic band training on strength and neuromuscular function in healthy, older females. The main questions it aims to answer are:
Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 3 groups:
Researchers will compare groups to determine differences in changes in strength, neuromuscular function, and body composition.
Participants in both training groups will perform 6 weeks of moderate intensity, whole-body elastic band training. Participants in the control group will participate in all testing procedures but not perform any training. Participants from both groups will be instructed to maintain their normal physical activity levels and dietary habits.
All training sessions will be home-based and virtually supervised by research personnel. Participants will complete 2 training sessions in the first week and 3 training sessions per week for the remaining 5 weeks. Each training session will last about 45-60 minutes and consist of 7 exercises performed in the same order by each participant, including both multi-joint (chair squat, chest press, leg press, back row) and single-joint (knee extension, knee flexion, elbow flexion) exercises. Participants will perform 12 repetitions for each exercise for the first 3 weeks, then volume will be increased by progressing to 4 sets for the remaining 3 weeks. There will be a 60-second rest interval between sets and a similar tempo will be used between groups.
Both training groups will perform the same training protocol, but participants in the maximal mental effort group will mentally urge their muscles to contract maximally during each repetition. That is, despite using a moderate intensity, participants will imagine the feeling of maximal muscle contraction of the primary muscles during each repetition.
Several measures of strength, neuromuscular function, physical function, and body composition will be measured before and after the training or control period.
Kennesaw State University is the lead sponsor of 9 studies on the registry; 5 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
This group will perform moderate intensity, whole-body elastic band training.
Behavioral: Elastic Band Training
This group will perform moderate intensity, whole-body elastic band training with maximal mental effort during muscle contraction.
Behavioral: Elastic Band Training with Maximal Mental Effort
This group will not perform any training and maintain their regular level of physical activity.
This training intervention will be 6 weeks of moderate-intensity elastic band training, including whole-body and isolated muscle exercises.
This training intervention will be 6 weeks of moderate-intensity elastic band training, including whole-body and isolated muscle exercises, where participants will perform maximal mental effort by imagining maximal muscle contraction during each exercise.
Change in bicep curl strength as measured by load lifted in pounds
Maximum dumbbell load lifted successfully throughout the range of motion of a bicep curl
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in voluntary activation as measured by ratio of superimposed torque to resting twitch torque
Voluntary activation is an estimate of neural drive and is the amplitude of superimposed torque elicited by percutaneous muscle stimulation relative to the resting twitch torque amplitude
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in handgrip strength as measured in kilograms of force
Upper-body strength as measured by a handgrip dynamometer
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in agonist muscle activation as measured by electromyography amplitude
A measure of the capacity at which the muscle is activitated by the nervous system
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change from baseline in isokinetic muscle activation at 6 weeks
Electromyography root mean square during isokinetic contraction divided by root mean square during isometric contraction
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in antagonist co-activation as measured by electromyography amplitude
A measure of the capacity at which the antagonist muscle is activated by the nervous system
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in isometric bicep strength as measured by newton-meters of torque
Isometric strength of a muscle
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in isokinetic bicep strength as measured by newton-meters of torque
Dynamic strength of a muscle contracting at a constant velocity
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in rate of torque development as measured by newton-meters per second
A measure of the capacity to increase muscle torque rapidly as determined by the slope of the torque-time curve
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in walking speed as measured by time taken to walk 6 meters
Measure of lower-body physical function
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in chair rise performance as measured by number of chair rises performed in 30 seconds
Measure of lower-body physical function
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in chair rise power by watts by a linear transducer attached to hip during chair rise test
Product of load and velocity as determined on a linear transducer
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in muscle composition as measured by ultrasound-derived grey-scale analysis
Echo-intensity value derived from grey-scale analysis is indicative of amount of non-contractile tissue in muscle
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in skeletal muscle size as measured by ultrasound-derived cross-sectional
Size of a muscle
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in fat mass as measured by kilograms
Amount of fat tissue a person possesses estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in fat-free mass as measured by kilograms
Amount of non-fat tissue a person possesses estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in body fat percentage as measured by fat tissue relative to fat-free tissue
Relative amount of body fat a person possesses estimated by bioelectrical impedance analysis
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in hemoglobin A1c level as measured by blood drop analysis
Blood drop analysis, obtained from fingerstick, measure of amount of blood sugar bound to hemoglobin
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in resting heart rate as measured by beats/min using oscillatory cuff
Measure of cardiovascular fitness
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in resting blood pressure in millimeters of mercury using oscillatory cuff
Measure of cardiovascular fitness
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in general feeling about knee extension and bicep curl exercise
From a -5 to +5 on the Affective Feeling Scale
Time frame: Each exercise session of the 6-week intervention
Change in grip width on elastic band as measured by distance of hand placements on band
Indication of progression in training intensity
Time frame: Baseline, 3 weeks, 5 weeks
Change in exercising heart rate
A descriptor of the exercise physiological intensity for both training protocols
Time frame: Each exercise session of the 6-week intervention
Change in calorie consumption as measured by kilocalories determined by dietary recall
Amount of calories consumed
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in protein consumption as measured by kilocalories determined by dietary recall
Amount of protein consumed
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Change in physical activity as measured by daily step count via Garmin Venu SQ smartwatch
Measure of physical activity level
Time frame: Baseline, Week 7
Plan to share: No
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Kennesaw State University