Among the exercises used in heavy-resistance training programs, bench press is one of the most popular upper body lifts. Myoelectrical activity of upper-body muscles during bench press exercise has attracted a great deal of interest (Clemons & Aaron, 1997; Welsch et al. 2005) however limited research have been found related with the effects of different loads on electromyographical activity of upper body muscles during the bench press. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine if muscle activation changes in response to different loads during non-bar release concentric bench press motion. Methods: Seventeen male handball players volunteered to participate in this study. Subjects performed five explosive non-bar release concentric bench press motions at 50, 60, 70, 80 and 100 % of their 1-RM at 200 % of their biacromial distance (BAD). The EMG activity of clavicular pectoralis major (CPM), sternocostal pectoralis major (SPM), anterior deltoid (AD) and triceps muscles of dominant side were recorded by using surface electrodes. For each muscle at each different loads, root mean squares of EMG signals were calculated spontaneously from the beginning of the lift until the maximum force formation and all root mean squares values were summed to get a total muscle activation value. Maximum force for each lift at different loads was calculated by inverse dynamics Methods: Results: Results of one way ANOVA with repeated measures did not indicate any significant differences in muscle activation at different loads in non-bar release concentric bench press motion (p>.05). Discussion: The present study suggested that different loads did not result in differences in muscles` activation patterns during non-bar release concentric bench press motion at
© Copyright 2009 14th annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, Oslo/Norway, June 24-27, 2009, Book of Abstracts. Veröffentlicht von The Norwegian School of Sport Sciences. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.