Traditional Versus Suspended Push-up Muscle Activation in Athletes and Sedentary Women

Abstract

Syed-Abdul, MM, Soni, DS, Miller, WM, Johnson, RJ, Barnes, JT, Pujol, TJ, and Wagganer, JD. Traditional versus suspended push-up muscle activation in athletes and sedentary women. J Strength Cond Res 32(7): 1816-1820, 2018-Many strength training programs incorporate push-up exercises, which primarily activate upper-body muscles. Past data support the fact that shoulder girdle muscles (i.e., triceps (T) and anterior deltoids [AD]) exhibit greater electromyography (EMG) activity when a push-up is performed on an unstable (i.e., suspended [SP]) vs. stable (i.e., traditional [TD]) surface (). Sixty-nine healthy female volunteers (soccer players [SO], n = 24; gymnasts [GY], n = 21; sedentary [SE], n = 24) performed three TD and three SP push-ups. Muscle activation, expressed as absolute integral (mV), was measured using EMG analysis. Significant increases in muscle activation were exhibited by GY (TD: p < 0.01 and SP: p < 0.001) and SO (TD: p < 0.05 and SP: p < 0.05) compared to SE for the T muscle. Only SO (p < 0.05) exhibited significantly higher muscle activation during the SP versus TD. For the AD, values were significantly higher for SO (TD: p < 0.001 and SP: p < 0.001) and GY (TD: p < 0.01 and SP: p < 0.01) compared to the SE group. In addition, significantly higher values were exhibited by SO compared with GY during TD push-ups (p < 0.01). Both the SO (p < 0.05) and GY (p < 0.05) group exhibited significantly higher values during SP versus TD push-ups. Finally, values were significantly higher for the AD compared to the T muscle only in the SO group during TD (p < 0.01) and SP (p < 0.05) push-ups. Data from this study for trained women (i.e., SO) are consistent with previous studies, whereas for untrained women (i.e., SE) the findings differed during TD and SP push-ups for both muscles. Differences were also observed between female SO and GY are unexplainable and therefore need further investigation.

Electromyography of shoulder muscles in individuals without scapular dyskinesis during closed kinetic chain exercises on stable and unstable surfaces: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Following the screening of titles and abstracts, 80 full-text articles were subjected to detailed evaluation. Finally, 28 articles were recognized as eligible studies for inclusion ( 1 , 4 , 21 , 51 – 75 ) ( Figure 1 ). For the meta-analysis, 5 studies out of 28 eligible studies were excluded ( 1 , 56 , 60 , 68 , 72 ).…”

“…Upper limb training programs are commonly employed to increase stability, strength, and mobility while reducing the risk of injury ( 1 ). To select the most ideal exercises, Karandikar and Vargas ( 2 ) compared the concepts and clinical applications of open and closed kinetic chain exercises and concluded that a comprehensive training program should encompass a combination of these two types of exercises ( 2 ).…”

Comparison of the Electromyography Activity during Exercises with Stable and Unstable Surfaces: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In the case of studies with insufficient data or which only presented the results in graphs, the authors were contacted by email or Research Gate to allow their inclusion in the review. Some studies presented mean values and standard errors, making it not possible to include the results in the meta-analysis [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Therefore, in some cases, it was necessary to transform the standard error values into standard deviations using Review Manager 5.3 (The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark) to include these results in the meta-analysis [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ].…”

“…Some studies presented mean values and standard errors, making it not possible to include the results in the meta-analysis [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Therefore, in some cases, it was necessary to transform the standard error values into standard deviations using Review Manager 5.3 (The Cochrane Collaboration, Copenhagen, Denmark) to include these results in the meta-analysis [ 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 ]. The authors were contacted for further information if the paper did not provide enough data.…”

Risk of Injury Comparison Between Regular and Knuckle Push-Up Based on Kinematic Parameter Analysis

“…In knuckle push-up, both fists will be clenched, while in a regular push-up, the palm is stretched open, touching the floor. This variance leads to a different muscle activation [8] and also a different risk of injury. From comparing the loads on the elbow, it was claimed that knuckle push-up resulting in a larger value than regular push-up (0.35BW ± 0.02 > 0.2BW ± 0.04) [9,10].…”