Affective response of postmenopausal women to resistance training on stable and unstable surfaces: a randomized cross-over study

Objective: To compare the affective response of postmenopausal women who undergo 6 weeks of resistance training on stable and unstable surfaces. Methods: This randomized counterbalanced cross-over study carried included 14 postmenopausal women (55 [SD, 3] years; height 1.55 [SD, 0.03] m; body mass 78.70 [SD, 12.00] kg; and body mass index 32.80 [SD, 4.90] kg/m²), who underwent 6 weeks of resistance training on stable and unstable surfaces. The participants were initially allocated to 1 experimental condition (stable or unstable) in a randomized counterbalanced manner. The intervention consisted of 8 exercises in 3 series of 8-10 repetitions, with intervals of 60-90 seconds, for 3 weeks. After the first 3-week protocol, they were switched to the other experimental condition for another 3 weeks. To evaluate affective response, the Hardy and Rejeski Sensation Scale was applied weekly at the end of each exercise and again at the end of the 6 weeks. Results: Affective response was similar to the general affect observed at the end of the sessions (stable surface: 5.00 [3.00]; unstable surface: 5.00 [1.00]; p = 0.114), except for the bridge exercise (stable surface: 3.00 [2.00]; unstable surface: 4.00 [2.00]; p = 0.048]). Conclusions: The affective response of these women was not affected by training on unstable surfaces, except for the bridge exercise, in which the unstable surface increased affective response