Electromyographic Activities of Pectoralis Major and Triceps Brachii Muscles During Push-Up Exercises On Different Surfaces

Abstract

The push-up is a basic exercise commonly used in strength training. This exercise can be performed on different surfaces. The purpose of this study is to compare the muscle activation of the pectoralis major and triceps brachii muscles during push-up exercises performed on stable and unstable surfaces. Nineteen males participated in this study. Bosu ball and ring apparatus were used as unstable surfaces and the floor was used as a stable surface. Subjects performed 5 repetitions of PU on the different surfaces. A one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to compare the muscle activities between the surfaces. Muscle activation of PM was significantly greater in the ring than on the floor and the Bosu ball (p<0.05). No significant difference was determined when the floor and the Bosu ball were compared. There was no significant difference between surfaces in the muscle activation of TB (p>0.05). In conclusion, using the ring apparatus as an unstable surface increase the PM muscle activation in PU exercise. Muscle activation of TB was not influenced by surface stability in PU.

Keywords

• Unstable surface
• stable surface
• muscle activity

References

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