The Effect of Different Incline Angles on the Neuromuscular Activation of the Clavicular Head of the Pectoralis Major Muscle During the Barbell Incline Bench Press Exercise

Abstract

The bench press is one of the most commonly performed exercises targetingthe Pectoralis Major (PM) muscle. However, different inclination degreesof this exercise engage different parts of the muscle. This study aimed toanalyze the effect of different incline angles on the neuromuscular activationof the clavicular head of the PM muscle performed on a barbell inclinebench press. Twenty young males volunteered to perform 8 repetitions of thebarbell incline bench press at 60% of their one-repetition maximum (1RM)at incline angles of 20°, 32°, and 43°. The neuromuscular activation of thePM muscle was recorded via electromyography during the concentric phaseof the movement. The root mean square (in mV) was calculated for eachrepetition and averaged for each angle. The data obtained were analyzedusing a repeated-measures ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc corrections(α=0.017) to evaluate differences between the angles. The root meansquare (in mV) at 20° (0.59±0.29 mV) was statistically significantly lower[F (2,18)=5.55, p=0.013,η2=0.381] compared to 32° (0.64±0.32 mV)and 43° (0.66±0.34 mV) (p<0.05). Also, the root mean square at 43°was higher than at 32°, although no statistically significant difference wasfound (p> 0.05). Performing the incline barbell bench press at an angleabove 32° can lead to significantly higher neuromuscular activation of theclavicular head of the PM muscle, with 43° being the most beneficial.