Journals Information
International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences Vol. 11(6), pp. 1238 - 1243
DOI: 10.13189/saj.2023.110607
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The Impact of Leg Width on Muscle Activation and Performance during Push-Up Exercise
Abdul Muiz Nor Azmi 1,2, Ali Md Nadzalan 1,*, Raja Nurul Jannat Raja Hussain 3, Mohamad Firdaus Ahmad 3, Wan Ahmad Munsif Wan Pa 4, Ellail in Mohd Aznan 5, Rajkumar Krishnan Vasanthi 6
1 Faculty of Sports Science and Coaching, Sultan Idris Education University, Malaysia
2 Faculty of Psychology and Education, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia
3 Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Negeri Sembilan Branch, Malaysia
4 Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia
5 Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perlis Branch, Arau Campus, Malaysia
6 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, INTI International University, Malaysia
ABSTRACT
Push-up is an effective bodyweight exercise that can help improve the muscular endurance and strength of the upper limb muscles from health risks. Additionally, there are many ways to perform push-up, and it might cause several changes to its effectiveness. This includes changing the leg conditions such as legs open wide, legs open to shoulder-width, and narrow legs. The study aimed to investigate the effect of leg width during push-ups on muscle activity and performance. A total of 30 trained men (22.36 卤 2.17 years old) participated in the study. Participants were required to perform push-ups in three conditions; i) leg open wide, ii) leg open to shoulder width, and iii) narrow leg. The electromyography (EMG) was used to evaluate the activity of the anterior deltoid (AD), pectoralis major (PM), and triceps brachii (TB) muscles in all conditions. Performance on push-ups was also assessed by the number of repetitions for each condition in this study. The results of one-way repeated measure ANOVA demonstrated that there was a significant difference in the TB during the push-ups between the leg conditions, p < .05. TB was found to be more activated during narrow leg compared to the other two positions. However, there was no significant difference in the PM and AD during the push-ups between the leg conditions, p > .05. Findings also showed that the number of repetitions was significantly lesser while performing with narrow legs. The study concluded that in terms of performance, performing push-ups with a wider leg and a shoulder-width leg will be more advantageous instead of employing a narrow leg position. However, narrow legs would be prescribed if more challenges want to be given to TB.
KEYWORDS
Push-Up, Leg Width, Muscle Activation, Sports Performance, Strength and Conditioning
Cite This Paper in IEEE or APA Citation Styles
(a). IEEE Format:
[1] Abdul Muiz Nor Azmi , Ali Md Nadzalan , Raja Nurul Jannat Raja Hussain , Mohamad Firdaus Ahmad , Wan Ahmad Munsif Wan Pa , Ellail in Mohd Aznan , Rajkumar Krishnan Vasanthi , "The Impact of Leg Width on Muscle Activation and Performance during Push-Up Exercise," International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences, Vol. 11, No. 6, pp. 1238 - 1243, 2023. DOI: 10.13189/saj.2023.110607.
(b). APA Format:
Abdul Muiz Nor Azmi , Ali Md Nadzalan , Raja Nurul Jannat Raja Hussain , Mohamad Firdaus Ahmad , Wan Ahmad Munsif Wan Pa , Ellail in Mohd Aznan , Rajkumar Krishnan Vasanthi (2023). The Impact of Leg Width on Muscle Activation and Performance during Push-Up Exercise. International Journal of Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 11(6), 1238 - 1243. DOI: 10.13189/saj.2023.110607.