Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2017

Thesis Director

John D. (Jake) Emmett

Abstract

Cross-education is known as the phenomenon of strength transfer from the trained side of the body to the untrained side of the body by unilateral resistance training. Research has shown that limb dominance has an effect on the amount of strength that is gained on the untrained side. Studies have found that there is a greater cross over effect in strength from the dominant side of the body to the non-dominant side of the body than vice versa. The present study examined this effect by taking 12 college females and splitting them into three groups: dominant training, non-dominant training, and control group. The hypothesis was that the dominant training group would have a greater increase in peak grip strength in the untrained, non-dominant arm than the arm of the untrained, dominant group of the non-dominant training group. The dominant training group only trained their dominant arm with a hand dynamometer, while the non-dominant training group only trained their non-dominant arm with the same hand dynamometer. Both groups went through a 4-week, 13 sessions of grip strength training on the handy dynamometer. They performed 3 sets of 6 maximal squeezes with a 2-minute rest in between sets. Pre-and post-tests were taken of maximum grip strength squeeze. There was no significance difference in peak grip strength between the untrained arms of both groups. Also, there was no significance difference in peak grip strength between the trained arms of both groups however there was a trend in data in the untrained arm of the dominant training group showing a slight increase in strength from baseline measurements. These findings do not directly support the hypothesis however, if the number of subjects' value was greater, the trend in data in the dominant training group might have found significant effect from limb dominance.

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