Changes of Bioelectrical Muscle Activity During Ascending Phase Flat Bench Pressing

Bench pressing is one of the most popular strength exercises, used for general conditioning by athletes in many sports. It is also part of powerlifting and a sport on its own. Twenty international-level athletes took part in this investigation. The activity of four muscles was measured: the pectoralis major (PM), the anterior deltoid (AD), the lateral head of triceps brachii (TB), and the latissimus dorsi (LD), in four tasks. The pectoralis major showed no significant differences in muscle tension in relation to the lifted load. For the ascending phase, rise in muscle tension during external load increase was greatest for the Anterior Deltoid and Triceps Brachii muscles.