Comparative analysis of elevated and floor push-up exercises for activation of the pectoralis major muscle

Abstract

This study aimed to measure muscle activation by comparing electromyography (EMG) of two types of pushups i.e., ground-based and elevated. 20 male active sportspersons (age 20.12±3.57years, weight 65.38±9.32kg, height 175.5±10.5cm) were recruited in the study. The upper body muscle pectoralis major (PM) was chosen as target muscle for the study. Root mean square (RMS) of EMG activities were analysed for the PM muscle to determine maximum muscle involvement. In the elevated pushups, the samples performed the pushups on an elevated pushup bar of 18-centimeter height, in which they gripped the bar as per their shoulder width. Also, their feet were ground-based on a similar height platform. The paired t-test was used as the statistical tool to compare the EMG activation of PM between both variations of pushups. Further, mean and standard deviation values were considered for descriptive statistics. The level of significance was set at 0.05. The result of the study showed that there was no statistically significant difference in EMG activities of PM muscle between the two pushup variations with a t-value of -0.89. However, the descriptive statistics showed that the mean value of elevated pushups (RMS, 350.63) was higher than the grounded pushups (RMS, 311.44). These findings suggest elevated pushups may induce greater PM muscle activation, potentially due to increased instability due to the influence of elveated exercise variations on muscle engagement. Key words: pushups, muscle activation, electromyography, pectoralis major, exercise variations, root mean square