Optimal load for the muscle power profile of prone bench pull in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athletes

Asymmetry of Musculature and Hand Grip Strength in Bodybuilders and Martial Artists

“…Among the judo and jiu-jitsu athletes, this difference was small and statistically insignificant, which may be ascribed to the way in which the competitors engage in combat which emphasizes upper-body dynamic and static strength endurance [ 44 ]. These two traits are necessary to perform particular technique-related actions (e.g., grip domination and groundwork techniques) that allow to control the opponents during attack and defense [ 45 ]. A similar decrease in the asymmetry of grip strength was also found by other researchers [ 39 , 46 , 47 ].…”

Developing muscle power for combat sports athletes

“…For grappling combat sports, the optimal load has been determined for the bench press throw [21] and for the prone bench pull [22]. Silva et al [21] determined the bench press throw peak power for advanced and non-advanced BJJ athletes and reported that groups did not differ concerning power achieved with 30% (advanced: 972 ± 166 W; non-advanced: 890 ± 146 W), 40% (advanced: 1015 ± 197 W; non-advanced: 931 ± 156 W), 50% (advanced: 1032 ± 173 W; non-advanced: 906 ± 126 W), and 60% of 1RM (advanced: 901 ± 176 W; non-advanced: 885 ± 135 W).…”

“…Tavares et al [22] compared these same percentages of 1RM, but using the prone bench pull exercise and indicated that mean power mean velocity, mean propulsive power and mean propulsive velocity were lower during 30% and 60% of 1RM compared with 50% and 60% of 1RM, whereas mean propulsive power with 50% of 1RM resulted in higher values than 40% of 1RM (Table 1). The polynomial adjustment indicated that the optimal load for all power and velocity-related variables was 45%.…”

“…For example, during the jump the maximal power is achieved unload whereas the maximum power for the squat, power clean and hang power are achieved with loads of ~50%, 70% and 80% of 1RM, respectively. Values of optimal load for specific combat sports athletes such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) athletes have been determined for exercises frequently used in their training routine [21,22]. The optimal load for bench press throw was around 42% of 1RM for both advanced and non-advanced BJJ [21], whereas for the prone bench pull the optimal load varied between 45% and 50% of 1RM for different power-related variables [22].…”

“…Percentage of one-repetition maximum (1RM), absolute load, mean power (MP), mean velocity (MV), mean propulsive power (MPP) and mean propulsive velocity (MPV) during the prone bench pull executed by Brazilian jiu-jitsu athletes (adapted from Tavares et al[22]). …”