Original articles  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2002 September;42(3):304-8

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Validation of the NFL-225 test for predicting 1-RM bench press performance in college football players

Mayhew J. L. ¹, Ware J. S. ², Cannon K. ³, Corbett S. ⁴, Chapman P. P. ⁴, Bemben M. G. ⁵, Ward T. E. ⁶, Farris B. ⁵, Juraszek J. ⁵, Slovak J. P. ⁶

¹ Human Performance Laboratory and 2 Department of Athletics, Truman State University Kirksville, Missouri, USA 3 Department of Athletics, Northern Michigan University Marquette, Michigan, USA 4 Strength and Conditioning Department, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA 5 Human Performance Laboratory, Oklahoma University Norman Oklahoma, USA 6 Department of Physical Education, Texas A & M at Commerce Commerce, Texas, USA

Back­ground. The pur­pose of ­this ­study was to eval­uate the accu­racy of rep­e­ti­tions-to-­fatigue (RTF) ­using an abso­lute ­load of 102.3 kg (225 lbs) to esti­mate one-rep­e­ti­tion max­imum (1-RM) ­bench ­press per­for­mance in col­lege foot­ball ­players ­using var­ious pre­dic­tion equa­tions.
­Methods. Experi­mental ­design: a pros­pec­tive ­study on the asso­ci­a­tion ­between mus­cular endu­rance and mus­cular ­strength. Par­tic­i­pants: 260 ­players ­from ­NCAA Divi­sion IA (n=43), IAA (n=63), II (n=129), and red-­shirts (n=25) ­were eval­u­ated at the con­clu­sion of a min­imum of ­eight ­weeks of ­heavy-resis­tance ­training ­during the off-­season. Meas­ures: all sub­jects per­formed a 1-RM ­bench ­press and RTF ­using an abso­lute ­load of 102.3 kg.
­Results. The ­Mayhew et al. NFL-225 equa­tion non­sig­nif­i­cantly over­es­ti­mated 1-RM ­from RTF by 0.5 kg, ­while the ­Chapman et al. NFL-225 equa­tion sig­nif­i­cantly under­pre­dicted by 3.2 kg, ­although ­both equa­tions ­were com­par­able in the ­number of ­players pre­dicted ­within ±4.5 kg of ­actual 1-RM (52% vs 51%, respec­tively). ­Only two of ­nine RTF equa­tions cur­rently in use pro­duced pre­dicted 1-RM ­values ­that ­were not sig­nif­i­cantly dif­ferent ­from ­actual 1-RM per­for­mance.
Con­clu­sions. Spe­cific NFL-225 equa­tions are ­more accu­rate in esti­mating 1-RM ­bench ­press ­from abso­lute ­muscle endu­rance in col­lege foot­ball ­players ­than pre­vious pub­lished RTF equa­tions. The accu­racy of pre­dic­tion ­decreases at ­higher rep­e­ti­tions.