| Keywords |
Resistance training; Bench press; Attentional focus; Electromyography |
| Abstract |
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether it is possible to selectively activate the pectoralis major or triceps brachii muscles according to various (verbal, tactic, and visual) attentional focus instructions during the bench press exercise. Nine young male were familiarized with the procedure and performed a 1-repetition maximum (RM) test in the first session. In the second, participants performed one non-instructed set of 3 repetitions at 60% repetition maximum. Six additional sets of 3 repetitions at 60% RM were randomly performed with verbal instruction set, tactic instruction set, and visual instruction set to isolate the chest muscle and isolate the triceps muscle respectively. Maximum EMG activity normalized to 1-RM for each muscle was averaged over the three repetitions for each set and compared between the instructions. Participants showed significantly higher EMG activity of the pectoralis during verbal, tactic, and visual instruction set, compared to non-instructed set. EMG activity of the triceps muscle was significantly increased by the verbal and the tactic instruction. Our results suggest that tactic and visual instruction as well as verbal instruction seem to be effective for increasing activity of the pectoralis and the triceps during the bench press. |