The Role of Resting Duration in the Kinematic Pattern of Two Consecutive Bench Press Sets to Failure in Elite Sprint Kayakers

This study aimed to investigate the role of rest period duration (RP) on the time course of the acceleration portion (AP) and mean velocity of the concentric phase across two bench press sets to failure with a submaximal load (60% of the 1RM) using different RP. Ten elite junior kayakers performed, on four different days, two consecu- tive bench press sets to failure, allowing ran- domly 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-min RP between sets. AP reached a maximal value of 66% of the concentric movement time. This maximal AP was observed in repetition number 2 or 3, and then AP declined during the set, with a significant decrease when the number of repetitions was over 80% of the to- tal number of repetitions performed. AP and lift- ing velocity patterns of the concentric phase were not altered during a second set to failure, re- gardless of RP. However, when velocity was ex- pressed in absolute terms, 1-min RP was insuffi- cient to maintain the average lifting velocity dur- ing the second set, compared to the first one. These results may be of use in selecting number of repetitions and resting duration in order to en- sure optimal maintenance of the accelerative portion of concentric movement time with differ- ent resting-period durations. " average repetition velocity l " acceleration phase l " sets to failure