Participants
NEUROLOGICAL DISORDER, RECRUITMENT, MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, CEREBRAL PALSY
Participants were 16 young, resistance-trained male and female volunteers (male = 10, female = 6; age 25.8 ± 5.5 yrs; height 172.3 ± 7.9 cms; weight 79.8 ± 14.6 kgs; training experience 6.7 ± 4.4 yrs) recruited as a convenience sample from the university campus. This sample was estimated by G*power based on an analysis of variance within-between repeated measures model using an α of 0.05, a β of 0.8, a relatively large effect size (ES) of 0.4, and a correlation among repeated measures of 0.5 for sEMG amplitude at a given joint angle, consistent with previous researchInclusion criteria required that participants: (1) were between the ages of 18 to 40; (2) could read and speak English; (3) answered “no” to all questions on a physical activity readiness questionnaire (PAR-Q), (4) did not suffer from a neurological disorder (e.g., multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, etc.), and; (5) had at least 1 year of resistance training experience (defined as performing resistance training consistently over this period for at least 2 days per week) with experience performing the biceps curl exercise. Those receiving care for any upper body injury at the time of the study or those with an amputation of a limb were excluded from participation.The study employed a within-participant randomized, cross-over design whereby all participants performed each of the following conditions: Elbow flexion using a dumbbell (DB); elbow flexion using a commercial electromagnetic resistance device (ELECTRO) (Tonal Corporation, San Francisco, CA, USA), VR elbow flexion using a setting on the electromagnetic device that attempts to match the level of resistance to the human strength curve (25% of weight variation), and; EO elbow flexion using a setting on the electromagnetic device that increases the load by 50% on the eccentric portion of each repetitionEach participant was informed about the risks and benefits of the study and signed a written informed consent prior to participation. Approval for the study was obtained from the university Institutional Review Board at Lehman College; research was performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. All training and data collection was performed at the same site. The methods for this study were preregistered prior to recruitment at: osf.io/un5ym.