(46) CHANGES IN BODY COMPOSITIONS FOLLOWING RELATIVE VERSUS ABSOLUTE ADJUSTMENT AUTOREGULATORY PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE EXERCISE

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine potential differences in body composition following relative adjustment APRE (r-APRE) versus absolute adjustment APRE (a-APRE). Methods: Fifteen resistance trained males were separated into groups, r-APRE (n=9; m ± sd; age: 21.3 ± 2.2yrs; height: 175.8 ± 6.7cm; weight: 65.6 ± 17.8kg) or a-APRE (n=6; age: 21.1 ± 2.6yrs; height: 171.9 ± 6.5cm; weight: 90.5 ± 28.6kg). An Air Displacement Plethysmography system using whole body densitometric principles was utilized to determine body composition measures. Body weight (Wt), body fat percentage (BFP), fat free mass (FFM), and fat mass (FM)measures were recorded both before and after 4-weeks of APRE training. The 4-week r-APRE or a-APRE program was employed, consisting of 4 days per week, in conjunction with 2-3 accessory movements at a self-selected weight equivalent to an 8 on the OMNI Rate of Perceived Exertion scale. For the r-APRE group intra- and inter-session adjustments were made by reestablishing predicted 1RM using the Brzycki’s predicted 1RM equation, then, recalculating participants’ 85% 1RM (6RM) for the load of the subsequent working set. For the a-APRE group, individuals selected ±0-15 adjustments based on the number of repetitions completed during working sets. Separate mixed factorial analyses of variance (group [a-APRE v r-APRE] x time [pre v post]) were used to compare mean differences between groups following the training intervention. Results: There were no significant group x time interactions for FFM (p = 0.853), FM (p = 0.206), BFP (p = 0.245), or Wt (p = 0.264). Further, there were no main effects of time or groupfor FFM (p = 0.076, p = 0.647), FM (p = 0.404, p = 0.313), or BFP (p = 0.553, p = 0.279). However, there was a main effect of time on Wt (p = 0.004) with average weight increasing over time (85.880 ± 5.680 to 87.011 ± 5.706) when collapsed by group, but no main effect of group (p = 0.433). Conclusions: These findings suggest that neither r-APRE nor a-APRE resulted in significant changes in body composition over the 4-week training period. However, a significant increase in body weight over time, regardless of training method, indicates that short-term APRE interventions may influence overall mass but not specific body composition metrics. Practical Applications: Future investigations should further explore these anthropometric outcomes for 3RM and 10RM r-APRE program designs. Nutritional strategies may also be utilized in conjunction to APRE to optimize body composition. Acknowledgements: None