Abstract
This study compared the activation of the clavicular, sternocostal and abdominal heads of the pectoralis major (PM) and the long portion of the triceps brachii during the execution of the bench press with several inclinations, grip types, and grip widths. Thirteen healthy men with more than a year of resistance training experience participated in this study. The subjects performed 6 repetitions of various variations of the bench press at angles of -15°, 0° and 30° with grip width of 100% and 200% of their biacromial width in both pronation and supination with a load equivalent of their respective 12RM for each movement. EMG, bar acceleration and shoulder angle were recorded during each repetition. Activation of the clavicular head of the PM was, compared to a wide pronation at 0°, significantly higher at a close pronation at 0°and 30°; during a close supination at 30° and during a wide supination at 30°. Activation of the sternocostal head of the PM was, during a wide pronation at 0°, significantly higher than during a close supination at 0°, 30° and -15°; during a wide supination at 30; during a wide supination at 0° and 30° and at close pronation at 30° and -15°. Activation of the abdominal head of the PM was significantly better with wide pronation at -15° and 0° compared to all positions at 30°. Triceps brachii were better solicited during close pronation at 0° and -15° compared to supinated grip at 0° and 30°. Results from this study show that the bench press exercise performed with a wide pronation grip at 0° can maximize the activation of the three heads of the PM.
Highlights
Resistance training is one of the most popular forms of exercise to improve the overall fitness of an individual or athlete such as strength, power, endurance and/or muscular hypertrophy (5)
Barnett et al (2) and Glass and Armstrong (6) demonstrated that the clavicular head would be well worked at decline (-18° and -15° respectively) and at incline (+40° and +30° respectively) while recruitment of the sternocostal head would be diminished in an inclined position compared to a declined position
The clavicular head of the pectoralis major elicited higher activation, according to the present study, with the horizontal bench press (0°) with a close grip as well as in almost all the positions (3/4) during the incline bench press (+30°). These data are consistent with Barnett et al (2) who demonstrated better activation on the clavicular head of the pectoralis major during a close grip horizontal bench press compared to a wide grip bench press
Summary
Resistance training is one of the most popular forms of exercise to improve the overall fitness of an individual or athlete such as strength, power, endurance and/or muscular hypertrophy (5). Changes in the recruitment of the clavicle and sternocostal heads of the pectoralis major can be brought about by the variation of the incline of the bench during the bench press (2, 14) as well as by a change in the width or type of grip (4, 10). In this case, Lehman (10) demonstrated that adopting a supinated grip during horizontal bench pressing (0°) allowed for a better recruitment of the clavicular head of the pectoralis major than a pronated grip. The involvement of the abdominal head was not taken into account in any study in which the inclinations
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