This study aimed to investigate the impact of bar velocity during the eccentric phase on subsequent concentric performance in the young and elderly. Twelve elderly women (65.2+4.2 years) and 16 young women (23.1+2.1 years) were randomly assigned to four experimental conditions that combined high-velocity eccentric actions (HVECC; maximum velocity) and moderate-velocity eccentric actions (MVECC; 2.0 s), using 30% and 60% of their 1-repetition maximum (1RM) on the Smith machine bench press. Measurements of mean propulsive velocity (MPV), peak velocity (PV), and mean power (MP) were recorded. Two-way ANOVA with repeated measures was applied for each variable, when needed, the Bonferroni post hoc was used. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05, and effect size (ES) was established by Cohen's d z. The results demonstrated that elderly women showed improved performance in MPV (+10.0%; ES=- 0.58; p=0.009) and MP (+11.7%; ES=- 0.14; p=0.045) when utilizing HVECC at 30% 1RM only. Moreover, young women exhibited superior performance for both 30% and 60% 1RM when using HVECC for all variables analyzed (p<0.05). The HVECC appears to have an impact on the subsequent performance of the concentric phase, particularly when lighter loads (30% 1RM) are utilized, regardless of the age group.
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