Sex-related differences in the load-velocity and load-power relationships of the decline bench press exercise.

The purpose of this study was to analyse the load-velocity and load-power relationships of the decline bench press exercise (DBPE) and to compare sex-related differences. Twelve young healthy men and women performed a progressive loading test for the determination of 1RM strength and individual load-velocity and load-power relationship in the DBPE. A very close relationship between mean propulsive velocity (MPV) and %1RM was observed ( R ²  = 0.94). This relationship improved when plotting data separately by sex ( R ²  = 0.96-97). Individual load-velocity profiles gave an R ²  = 0.99 ± 0.01. The relationship between mean propulsive power (MPP) and %1RM was R ²  = 0.23. When separating data by sex, R ²  = 0.64-73 were obtained. Individual load-power profiles gave an R ² of 0.93 ± 0.07. Significant sex-related differences were found for MPV, with males having faster velocities than females from 30% to 40% 1RM ( p  = 0.01) and for MPP, with males having greater MPP (W) than females from 30% to 95% 1RM ( p  < 0.001). The results of this study show that a strong correlation exists between relative load and MPV/MPP in the DBPE, allowing the possibility of using one to predict the other with great precision, especially when a sex-specific equation is used.