Ryan Nelson rhnelson@stthomas.edu

Twelve St. Thomas students (8 male, 4 female; age= 21.5yr .9; height= 68.04in 3.54; weight= 70.73kg 13.31) who had a minimum of one year weight training experience and had been injury free for at minimum of one year previous to the study were asked to participate. The subjects were asked to perform three tests: a 1RM bench press, a bench press set to exhaustion at 80% of their 1RM using large weights, and a bench press set to exhaustion at 80% of their 1RM using small weights. The results, i.e. repetitions, of the later two sets were compared to determine whether the perceived heaviness of the weights influenced performace.
Results showed that the majority of subjects were able to complete a greater number of repetitions using the small weights, thus confirming the original hypothesis. However, the T-test performed showed no significant statistical difference between the two sets.