Electromyographic comparison of modified push-up exercise: focused on various arm position

This study was to investigate the difference of muscle activities in trunk, upper arm, and shoulder during push-up exercise based on 3 types of different arm position(posterior position, PP; normal position, NP; and anterior position, AP) and to provide effective push-up arm position for each muscle development. Fifteen healthy males(age, $21.5{\pm}0.5years$; height, $172.7{\pm}1.0cm$; body mass, $70.5{\pm}1.3kg$; shoulder width, $42.3{\pm}0.6cm$; and BMI, $23.6{\pm}0.5kg/m^2$) participated in this study. PP, NP, and AP of the arm were used to conduct push-up exercise and 8 muscles(deltoideus p. acromialis: DA; pectoralis minor: PMI; pectoralis major: PMA; serratus anterior: SA; biceps brachii: BB; triceps brachii: TB; latissimus dorsi: LD; and infraspinatus: IS) of right side were selected to measure muscle activities. Total 9 counts of push-up exercise were conducted and EMG data signals of 5-time(from $3^{th}$ to $7^{th}$) push-up movement were used for measuring muscle activities. PP push-up exercise showed that there was a significantly higher muscle activity of DA, PMI, PMA, SA, BB, LD, and IS(p<.05) and AP push-up exercise showed a significantly higher TB activity(p<.05). It would be suggested that different arm position evokes various muscle activities when conducting push-up exercise. PP would be the best push-up arm position for inducing various trunk, upper arm, and shoulder muscle activities compared to NP and AP.