ORIGINAL ARTICLE  EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND BIOMECHANICS 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2025 Mar 17

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.25.16343-3

Copyright © 2025 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

lingua: Inglese

Influence of various types of muscle contractions on subsequent bench press volume

Mohammad IZADI ✉, Guglielmo PILLITTERI, Ewan THOMAS, Giuseppe BATTAGLIA, Antonino BIANCO, Marianna BELLAFIORE

Unit of Sports and Exercise Research, Department of Psychology, Educational Sciences and Human Movement, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of different conditioning activities (concentric-only, isometric, eccentric-only, and eccentric-concentric) on the volume of bench press exercises.
METHODS: Ten male collegiate athletes performed three sets of bench press exercises at 75% of their one-repetition maximum, with a 4-minute rest between sets, until they reached concentric failure. This was done either after one of the four types of contraction activations (concentric-only, isometric, eccentric-only, and eccentric-concentric) or without any conditioning activity, with the order being counterbalanced and randomized across different days. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to assess differences in the number of repetitions, time under tension, and total work across conditions.
RESULTS: The results showed that concentric-only contractions significantly increased the number of repetitions and time under tension compared to the control. Moreover, concentric-only contractions resulted in more repetitions and total work than eccentric-concentric contractions. Additionally, the time under tension was longer for concentric-only contractions than for isometric contractions.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that concentric-only conditioning activities may improve the volume of subsequent bench press exercises.

KEY WORDS: Athletic performance; Resistance training; Exercise