![]() These exercises aim at inducing muscular hypertrophy of the elbow flexors, and can be performed using a straight bar, an undulated bar (named “EZ”) or dumbbells. Furthermore, performing barbell curls with a reverse handgrip resulted in an increase in brachioradialis activation ( Hatfield, 1993). On the other end, a very popular barbell curl named the Scott curls, unload the long head of the biceps placing greater overloading on the short head ( Hatfield, 1993). This was due to an overall higher neuromuscular effort in the whole range of motion while in the dumbbell preacher curls the activation of the biceps was maximal only for elbow angles close to full extension.Īs reported in bodybuilder manuals ( Hatfield, 1993) it is well accepted that two of the most employed dumbbell curls, the incline curls and the hummer curls, pre-stretch the biceps long head and enhance the involvement of the brachialis, respectively. Another study ( Oliveira et al., 2009) reported that standing dumbbell curls and sitting dumbbell curls with the trunk inclined backwards were recommended for biceps force improvement. Oliveira and Goncalves ( Oliveira & Gonçalves, 2009) found that different body posture influenced the demand of neuromuscular, cardiovascular and sensorial responses. Previous studies have found that changes in the technical execution of an exercise could selectively influence muscle activity though there is very little information available focusing on exercises targeting the elbow flexors (biceps, brachialis and brachioradialis). The effect of grip width and forearm pronation/supination on upper body muscles while performing the flat bench-press exercise was also explored and it was found that small changes in muscle activity were associated with changes in grip width ( Lehman, 2005). In addition, EMG of the shoulder and trunk muscles during different variations of the lat pull down exercise was investigated ( Lusk, Hale & Russell, 2005 Signorile, Zink & Szwed, 2002), showing that maximal activation of the latissimus dorsi was obtained when performing the exercise with an anterior wide grip. For instance, the effect of feet position on the electromyographic (EMG) activity of quadriceps muscles has been previously reported ( Boyden, Kingman & Dyson, 2000 Signorile, Kwiatkowski & Caruso, 1995), as well as the effect of stance width on the activity of the gluteus maximus during a back squat ( Paoli, Marcolin & Petrone, 2009). These training approaches have been investigated in both lower and upper body exercises which target specific muscle groups. Therefore, to maximize muscle hypertrophy, bodybuilders construct training programs which involve exercises isolating specific muscles with different exercise variants or different ranges of movement, with the aim to increase muscle activity. ![]() In strength athletes such as bodybuilders, resistance training plays a key role as it induces muscle hypertrophy. Resistance training has fundamental importance in improving athletic performance as it allows the increase of muscular strength, power and speed ( Kraemer & Ratamess, 2004).
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