BackgroundThe bench press exercise (BP) plays an important role in recreational and professional training, in which muscle activity is an important multifactorial phenomenon. The objective of this paper is to systematically review electromyography (EMG) studies performed on the barbell BP exercise to answer the following research questions: Which muscles show the greatest activity during the flat BP? Which changes in muscle activity are related to specific conditions under which the BP movement is performed?StrategyPubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) in the Cochrane Library were searched through June 10, 2016. A combination of the following search terms was used: bench press, chest press, board press, test, measure, assessment, dynamometer, kinematics and biomechanics. Only original, full-text articles were considered.ResultsThe search process resulted in 14 relevant studies that were included in the discussion. The triceps brachii (TB) and pectoralis major (PM) muscles were found to have similar activity during the BP, which was significantly higher than the activity of the anterior deltoid. During the BP movement, muscle activity changes with exercise intensity, velocity of movement, fatigue, mental focus, movement phase and stability conditions, such as bar vibration or unstable surfaces. Under these circumstances, TB is the most common object of activity change.ConclusionsPM and TB EMG activity is more dominant and shows greater EMG amplitude than anterior deltoid during the BP. There are six factors that can influence muscle activity during the BP; however, the most important factor is exercise intensity, which interacts with all other factors. The research on muscle activity in the BP has several unresolved areas, such as clearly and strongly defined guidelines to perform EMG measurements (e.g., how to elaborate with surface EMG limits) or guidelines for the use of exact muscle models.

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Background: Visual feedback may help elicit peak performance during different types of strength and power testing, but its effect during the anaerobic Wingate test is unexplored. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of visual feedback on power output during a hockey-specific intermittent Wingate test (AnWT6x6) consisting of 6 stages of 6 s intervals with a 1:1 work-to-rest ratio. Methods: Thirty elite college-aged hockey players performed the AnWT6x6 with either constant (n = 15) visual feedback during all 6 stages (CVF) or restricted (n = 15) visual feedback (RVF) where feedback was shown only during the 2nd through 5th stages. Results: In the first stage, there were moderate-to-large effect sizes for absolute peak power (PP) output and PP relative to body mass and PP relative to fat-free mass. However, the remaining stages (2–6) displayed small or negligible effects. Conclusions: These data indicate that visual feedback may play a role in optimizing power output in a non-fatigued state (1st stage), but likely does not play a role in the presence of extreme neuromuscular fatigue (6th stage) during Wingate testing. To achieve the highest peak power, coaches and researchers could provide visual feedback during Wingate testing, as it may positively influence performance in the early stages of testing, but does not result in residual fatigue or negatively affect performance during subsequent stages.

The intrathoracic pressure and breathing strategy on bench press (BP) performance is highly discussed in strength competition practice. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze whether different breathing techniques can influence the time and track characteristics of the sticking region (SR) during the 1RM BP exercise. 24 healthy, male adults (age 23 ± 2.4 yrs., body mass 85 ± 9.2 kg, height 181 ± 5.4 cm) performed a 1 repetition BP using the breathing technique of Valsalva maneuver (VM), hold breath, lung packing (PAC), and reverse breathing (REVB), while maximum lifted load and concentric phase kinematics were recorded. The results of ANOVA showed that the REVB breathing decreased absolute (p < 0.04) and relative lifted load (p < 0.01). The VM showed lower (p = 0.01) concentric time of the lift than the other breathing techniques. The VM and PAC showed lower SR time than other breathing techniques, where PAC showed a lower SR time than VM (p = 0.02). The PAC techniques resulted in shorter SR and pre-SR track than other breathing techniques and the REVB showed longer SR track than the other considered breathing techniques (p = 0.04). Thus, PAC or VM should be used for 1RM BP lifting according to preferences, experiences and lifting comfort of an athlete. The hold breath technique does not seem to excessively decrease the lifting load, but this method will increase the lifting time and the time spend in the sticking region, therefore its use does not provide any lifting benefit. The authors suggest that the REVB should not be used during 1 RM lifts.

Decreased ankle range of motion (ROM) leads to many disorders, ranging in severity from gait abnormalities to knee and pelvis injuries. Therefore, maintaining full ankle ROM is very important, especially for athletes, for whom ankle ROM may affect their results during competitions. Medical flossing is a technique used by physiotherapists to improve ROM. The aim of this review was to investigate the effect of medical flossing on ankle ROM according to the results in previous studies. ‪The search was conducted with the following key words individually and/or in combinations: range of motion, flossband, mobility bands, vascular occlusion, flossing bands, compression, voodoo floss, and tack floss. F‪rom the identified 5600 articles, only 4 studies were included in this systematic review. The results showed that the mean difference in ROM after treatment was 1.20 cm (Hedge’s g = 0.31, p < 0.01, I2= 89%). ‪There is evidence showing that the application of flossing can be beneficial to increase the ROM. Moreover, some of the studies confirmed a positive impact of flossing on jump performance; nonetheless, data to confirm this effect in this review are insufficient.

Background: Respiratory muscle strength is an important indicator of human health and sport condition. The aim of this study was to assess the test/retest reliability of mouth pressure (MP) measured by a created pressure sensor mouthpiece in the sitting position and during bench pressing at various intensities.Material and methods: 23 healthy athletes were measured in 3 separate sessions for MP in the sitting position and during flat bench press at an intensity of one repetition maximum (1RM), 3 x 90% of 1RM, 8 x 80% of 1RM and 12 x 60% of 1RM. Results:The measurement device showed acceptable reliability with ICC (Intraclass correlation) ranging from 0.75 to 0.95, where the highest reliability was reached in between repetitions, and slightly decreased when measurements were done in different sessions. The ANOVA showed differences between mouth pressure at different exercise loads (F 4, 56 = 22.18, p< 0.001),with the highest MP measured in the sitting position, followed by 90% of 1RM, 80% of 1RM and 60% of 1 RM load. Conclusions:This study shows acceptable reliability of MP measurement by a mouthpiece device with piezo-resistant sensor. The MP depends on the exercise intensity during the bench press and is higher in sitting than in the supine body position.

Background: This study aimed to determine the acute effect of agonist and antagonist conditioning activities (CA) on medicine ball throw performance among female softball players. Methods: Thirteen national level female softball players (age 22.2 ± 3.1 years; body mass 68.3 ± 11.3 kg; softball experience 7.3 ± 2.4 years) performed 3 medicine ball chest throws before CA and after CA respectively in 3rd, 6th, and 9th minute. CA was the bench press (BP) and bent-over barbell row with 2 sets of 4 repetitions at 60% and 80% of one-repetition maximum, and 2 sets 4 repetition bodyweight push up.Results: Two-way ANOVA revealed an increase in throwing distance (p < 0.001) after bent over barbell row exercise and in throwing speed (m/s) (p < 0.001) after BP and bent over barbell row. The throwing distance was highest after bent over barbell row (Cohen’s d 0.41). Although the BP had the highest effect (Cohen’s d 0.41) to increase the throwing speed, its effect on throwing distance was not significant. Conclusions: We conclude that upper body throwing performance is higher after antagonist exercise than agonist CA and both agonist and antagonist CA increases power. In the resistance training practice, we recommend the interchange of agonist and antagonist PAPE stimulation at push-up bodyweight or BP and bent over raw submaximal (80% of 1RM) intensity to succeed PAPE on upper limbs.