You are on page 1of 11

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME

The Long Term Effect of Verbal Encouragement on Peak Muscle Torque in Trained Athletes
During Weight Lifting
Chance Zombor, Jeremy Hansen, and Panagiotis Liapis
Carroll University

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


2

Intro
It is well established that verbal encouragement has a positive effect on peak muscle
torque in trained athletes during weight lifting. The recruitment of motor neurons is a widely
studied topic within the medical field. Various studies have proven that a greater amount of
motor neurons can be recruited through the use of verbal, non-verbal, motivational, aggressive
and visual stimuli. There are multiple studies (Murgia et al, 2012; Amagliani, Petrella, Jung,
2010; Camponella, Mattacola, Kimura, 2006; Mcnair, Depledge, Brettkelly, Stanley, 1996),
which prove this in the short term, however a gap we have found in existent research is that there
are no long term studies (over one year) on communication aided motor neuron recruitment. The
purpose of this study is to determine whether the effects of verbal encouragement diminish over
time. Coaches and trainers will be able to utilize our findings to optimize their training regimen,
including the use of verbal encouragement.
Lit Review
Some studies concluded that verbal cues alone increased physical performance. Using a
Biodex B-2000 isokinetic dynamometer, (Campenella, Mattacola, and Kimura, 2006) were able
to determine that verbal encouragement had a positive effect on peak torque of the quadriceps
and hamstrings. In a different study, eighteen different professional athletes did three bench
presses while having vocal encouragement and no encouragement at all. The results were that
there was a higher exertion during weightlifting while auditory stimulus is being used. (Murgia et
al, 2012) In another study, 32 inexperienced women who had not bench pressed in the preceding
18 months were separated into two groups and observed performing bench press with and
without verbal encouragement. Wise JB, Posner AE, Walker GL were able to determine that
verbal encouragement increased efficiency. The results of another study found that the mean

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


3

peak force increased from 296 N to 311 N when verbal encouragement was used. (Alavar, Arent,
Landers, Rhea, 2003)
Other studies concluded that verbal cues and visual feedback were the best way to
increase physical performance in a relatively short period. This study used six training sessions
and 3 different hang cleaning techniques, it was found that visual feedback and verbal cues
together increase performance rather than visual feedback or verbal cues alone. (Phillip, Rucci,
Tomporowski, 2010) And in a similar study that measured the effectiveness of action observation
over a four week span, it was found that visual and verbal feedback cues combined with action
observation had a greater effect than either by itself or neither. (Panchuk, Pearce, Sakadjian,
2014) Another study had 11 untrained women and 12 professional athletes do a leg workout with
three different techniques. These techniques consisted of verbal encouragement, verbal plus
visual encouragement, and verbal plus pain avoidance encouragement. Despite there not being a
difference, the technique that worked the best was verbal plus visual encouragement. (Amagliani,
Petrella, Jung, 2010).
Different studies found that motivation and increased stimulus helped increase short-term
physical performance. In one study, 48 males witnessed an aggressive boxing film or a nonaggressive film. The results were that the greatest amount of aggression after being measured
came from the group of men that watched the aggressive film, proving that men react
aggressively to aggressive stimuli. (Geen and Oneal, 2012) Another study wanted to see how
psyching up effects the physical performance of an athlete. Psyching up refers to the use of selfdirected cognitive strategies designed to enhance performance. This study included twelve men
and eight women who are professional athletes and had them perform five bench press
repetitions during three interventions. The three interventions involved a psych up, cognitive

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


4

distraction, and an attention-placebo. The results found that there was an 11.8% increase from
cognitive distraction. The conclusion states that psyching up may increase force production
(Tod, Iredale, Mcguigan, Strange, Gill, 2005).
Overview
This study examines the effect of verbal encouragement on trained athletes ability to
produce muscular torque over a period of one year. The experiment will examine one
independent variable: verbal encouragement, and its effect on one dependent variable: peak
muscle torque. This will be a lab experiment.

Participants
The experiment will use a stratified sample of 60 Carroll University student athletes,
equal number male and female, randomly selected from the womens basketball, softball, and
volleyball teams, and mens baseball, basketball, and football teams. Subjects will be divided
into two groups, each with 15 male and 15 female subjects. Participants must have at least 4
years of weight training experience. Participants must have no hearing limitation. The
participants will not be given any form of compensation and informed consent will be obtained
from each participant prior to the start of the experiment.
Participants will be observed performing both bench press and hamstring curl exercises.
Subjects in group 1 will receive verbal encouragement. Subjects in group 2 will complete the
exercises without encouragement.

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


5

Measurement
The experiment will measure the long term effects of using verbal cues on the power
generated by muscle torque of the athletes while working out. Power will be measured using an
A-3-axis accelerometer (PS-2119, Pasco Scientific, Roseville, CA) attached to a Bluetooth
wireless device (Pasco Pasport Airlink SI (Ps2005)) in accordance with Fleschler, Sands, & Sato
(2009) in their article A NEW APPROACH TO MEASURE WEIGHTLIFTING
PERFORMANCE INTRODUCING AN ACCELEROMETER. Power can be defined as force
multiplied by velocity (P = V x F). During the pre and posttest sessions our participants will
perform lifts with 3 repetitions with maximum effort. The only difference will be that one is
given verbal cues while the other is not. Although the study will take place over the course of a
year, we will only record data from the initial test and the final test as tolerance to the verbal
stimulus should be lowest during the first session and highest during the final.

Procedure
The procedure will follow the rule of 2 groups, one being control and the other being the
tested group, having to go through a pretest, and then having them work out using the same
method for 3 days a week for a period of one year, and then go through a post test. These tests
will evaluate the long term effects of using verbal cues while working out by comparing the final
post test scores with the initial pre test scores. Participants in the verbal stimulation group will
wear headphones, they will hear a recording which will have three phases. First a countdown to
each lift, then during the pressing phase there will be a high intensity sound (95 dB), and during
the down phase a low intensity sound (60 dB) will be played. The decibel level we have picked is

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


6

in compliance with a procedure used during a short term auditory stimulation study performed by
Agostini, Et al (2012), which showed auditory stimulation to improve power exertion.

Analysis
Since a T-test is used to determine whether there is a difference between two groups
averages, we will use a T-test to determine whether or not there was improvement or lack thereof
from the pre to post-test. We will use a confidence level of .05 (95%) to determine are results as
it is an accepted value in this field of study. The T-test will be run two times, first using the
results of the control and testing group of the initial test and then a second time for the final test.
The results of our two T-tests will then be compared and we will determine whether or not there
was an increase or decrease in power production.

Conclusion
Given past research on the effects of verbal encouragement on muscle torque, it is
believed that verbal encouragement would increase muscle torque over long periods of time.
However, it is possible that subjects will adapt to the encouragement in such a way that it would
become less effective and performance would plateau. The person would get used to hearing the
verbal encouragement to a point where it would not have an effect anymore.
If it is proven that the effect of verbal encouragement diminishes over time, strength
and conditioning coaches may want to develop a program that alternates between verbal, verbal
with visual, and no encouragement to optimize performance over time. Regardless of our
findings, other psychosocial conclusions and questions could be drawn from our experiment.

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


7

Limitations
Because of the fact that all subjects are drawn from college athletic teams, they are
subject to on and off seasons. If a student athlete is in their off season during our experiment
their results over the course have the potential to be lower during this time. Just as performance
during their athletic season may increase. If their decline in performance corresponds with the off
season and is found to be a trend in our research on and off seasons would act as a confounding
variable. Another limitation is injury as student athletes may sustain an injury which could lead
to them dropping out of the experiment or if they do not report a minor injury could lead to our
results being skewed as their performance would not be to the best of their ability. A final
limitation is the student athlete's own workout plan over the course of the experiment there could
be many variations which could skew our results in both directions. To force 60 student athletes
in different sports to follow an identical workout regimen over the course of the year with no
exception would be next to impossible without constant observation.

Further research
Given the confounding variables which we have identified, there are several factors
which we could improve upon for future research. To remove a possible on and off season
scenario, experimentation would not be limited to a stratified sample of 60 weight trained Carroll
University student athletes. Possible experimentation could be done with untrained subjects and
non-athletes to bring a greater level of validation to our research. Subjects would also be given
an identical workout regimen, (approved by each subjects physician) to follow throughout the
course of the experiment. This will eliminate a skew in results due to either a rigorous subject

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


8

workout regimen or lack thereof. Subjects would also be required to report any injury or illness
they may experience and will also meet with a physical therapist every three months over the
course of out the experiment. This will not only improve the validation of our research, but also
add a level safety to our experiment safety procedures. These possible additions to our
procedure could further validate our findings or even call them into question and improves on
subject safety, which should be of the utmost importance in any experiment.

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


9

References
Amagliani, R.; Petrella, J., Jung, A., (2010) Type of Encouragement Influences Peak Muscle
Force in College-Age Women. International Journal of Exercise Science: Vol. 3: Iss. 4,
Article
Camponella, B., Mattacola, C., Kimura, I., (2006) Effect of Visual Feedback and Verbal
Encouragement on Concentric Quadriceps and Hamstrings Peak Torque of Males and
Females. Isokinetics and Exercise Science.
Geen, R., Oneal, E., (2012) Activation of cue-elicited aggression by general arousal. American
Psychological Association
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/11/3/289/

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


10

Ikai, M., Steinhaus, A,. (1961) Some Factors Modifying the Expression of Human Strength. J
Appl Physiol.
Mcnair, P., Depledge, J., Brettkelly, M., Stanley, S., (1996) Verbal Encouragement: Effects on
Maximum Effort Voluntary Muscle Action. Br J Sports Med.
Murgia, M., Sors, F., Vono, R., Muroni, A., Delitala, L., Corrado, D., & Agostini, T. (2012,
January 1). Using auditory stimulation to enhance athletes strength: An experimental
study in weightlifting. Retrieved November 18, 2014
http://hrcak.srce.hr/index.php?show=clanak&id_clanak_jezik=135035
Rhea, M., Landers, D., Landers, D., Alavar, B., Arent, S., (2003) The Effects Competition and
the Presence Audience on Weightlifting Performance. National Strength and
Conditioning Association
RUCCI, J. A., & TOMPOROWSKI, P. D. (2010). THREE TYPES OF KINEMATIC
FEEDBACK AND THE EXECUTION OF THE HANG POWER CLEAN. Journal Of
Strength & Conditioning Research (Lippincott Williams & Wilkins), 24(3), 771-778.
Sakadjian, A., Panchuk, D., & Pearce, A. (2014). Kinematic and Kinetic Improvements
Associated with action observation facilitated learning of the power clean in Australian
footballers. Journal Of Strength And Conditioning Research / National Strength &
Conditioning Association, 28(6), 1613-1625. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000000290
Sato, K., Fleschler, P., & Sands, B. (2009, January 1). International Weightlifting Federation.
Retrieved November 18, 2014

Running Head: EFFECTS OF VERBAL ENCOURAGMENT OVER TIME


11

http://www.iwf.net/2009/07/23/a-new-approach-to-measure-weightlifting-performance/
Tod, D., Iredale, F., Gill, N., (2003) Psyching-up and Muscular Force Production. Sports Med.

You might also like