Acute effects of submaximal isometric muscle actions on bench press throw performance in strong vs. weak men
摘要
This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a submaximal isometric conditioning activity (CA) on bench press throw (BPT) performance between strong and weak men. The study sample included 52 men, aged 19–25, randomly divided into the experimental stronger (EX‑S [bench press > 135% body mass];n = 14), weaker (EX‑W;n = 13), control stronger (CON‑S;n = 13) weaker (CON‑W;n = 12) groups. The BPT was performed in three repetitions per set with a 30% one-repetition max (1-RM) load and measured at baseline and at the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th minutes after the protocol which consisted of four three-second sets of isometric bench press. The load was at 70%-1 RM, and the rest interval was 60 s. Set mean velocity (SMV) and set mean power (SMP) were measured. The three-way (intervention × strength level × time) repeated measures ANCOVA (covariate: the baseline measures) was performed and showed a statistically significant between-subjects interaction of intervention × strength level for SMV (F = 6.27;ηp2 = 0.11;p = 0.02) and for SMP (F = 9.42; ηp2 = 0.16;p < 0.01). Bonferroni post hoc tests revealed that EX‑S achieved better results in SMV and SMP than CON‑S (p < 0.01), CON‑W (p < 0.01) and EX‑W (p < 0.01). EX‑W achieved better results in SMV than CON‑W (p = 0.02). The within-subject analysis revealed a statistically significant interaction between intervention × time for SMV (F = 4.24, ηp2 = 0.08, p < 0.01) and SMP (F = 4.51, ηp2 = 0.09, p < 0.01). The EX-groups achieved better results in SMV at the 7th and 10th minutes than the CON-groups (p < 0.01) as well in SMP at 4th, 7th and 10th minutes than the CON-groups (p < 0.01) The introduced CA effectively improved barbell kinematics during the BPT. Strong participants exhibited greater performance enhancements than weak ones.