An Electromyography Analysis of 3 Muscles Surrounding the Shoulder Joint During the Performance of a Chest Press Exercise at Several Angles

Abstract

This study compared the activation of the clavicular head and the sternocostal head of the pectoralis major and the anterior deltoid when performing the bench press at several different angles. Fifteen healthy male subjects participated in this study. Subjects performed the chest press exercise at 0 (flat bench), 28, 44, and 56 degrees above horizontal using 70% of their respective 1 repetition maximum for each angle. Electromyographic activity was recorded during each repetition. Activation of the clavicular head of the pectoralis major was significantly greater at 44 degrees compared to 0 degrees (p = 0.010), at 56 degrees compared to 0 degrees (p = 0.013), and at 44 degrees compared to 28 degrees (p = 0.003). Activation of the sternocostal head of the pectoralis major was significantly greater at 0 degrees compared to 28 degrees (p = 0.013), at 0 degrees compared to 44 degrees (p = 0.018), at 0 degrees compared to 56 degrees (p = 0.001), at 28 degrees compared to 56 degrees (p = 0.003), and at 44 degrees compared to 56 degrees (p = 0.001). Activation of the anterior deltoid was significantly greater at 28 degrees compared to 0 degrees (p = 0.002), at 44 degrees compared to 0 degrees (p = 0.012), and at 56 degrees compared to 0 degrees (p = 0.014). To optimize recruiting the involved musculature, it would seem that performing both the flat and incline chest press exercises is necessary.

Comparative Evaluation Of Strength And Electrical Activity Of The Pectoralis Major Muscle During Bench Press Exercise In Horizontal, Incline And Decline Modalities

“…Divergent results were also cited in the study by Treb et al [4], in which the activation of the sternocostal part was significantly higher in the incline bench press compared with horizontal bench press, thus showing that the greater the angle of the exercise, the stronger the activation of this part of the muscle.…”

“…However, in the study by Barnett et al [19], the clavicular part showed a similar activity for the incline and the horizontal bench press and it showed less activity during the decline bench press. Trebs et al [4] observed that the clavicular part showed a significantly higher activity in the incline bench press compared with the horizontal modality. These differences can be explained by the angle of inclination of the exercise and by the hand spacing adopted in the different studies.…”

“…The bench press exercise is very popular, being present in the training of recreational practitioners and athletes from various sports modalities [4]. The aim of the bench press exercise practice in the gyms ranges from therapeutic purposes to muscular hypertrophy, while, in sports modalities, the aim is to improve the performance of muscle strength [5].…”

Changes in Bar Velocity and Muscular Activity During the Bench Press in Relation to the Load Lifted

“…These differences are associated with a decrease in velocity and the appearance of the sticking region. Deceleration was higher in lifts with the maximal load, which may have been caused by diminishing potentiation of the contractile elements (Walshe et al 1998;Konrad 2005;Reynolds et al 2006;Trebs et al 2010). Furthermore, the difference in lifted weight was strongly associated with a significant increase in bioelectrical activity of all the studied muscles.…”

JONAFES 2014 - Ciências Exatas, Humanas, Sociais, Biológicas e da Saúde

“…Identifica-se também na literatura, que no supino convencional (fitness) o deltóide anterior pode apresentar uma maior ativação que o músculo peitoral maior, devido à angulação do banco na execução do exercício ou com a elevação na carga (Sadri et al 2011, Wattanaprakornku et al 2011Trebs, Brandenburg & Pitney 2010).…”