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Seated, or Standing? Barbells, or Dumbbells? Where in this complex paradigm do you get the most benefit in terms of muscle activation?


Instability in resistance training is suggested to enhance the stress on the neuromuscular system compared to traditional resistance training methods, muscle activity in unstable versus more stable exercises is reported to be higher, similar and lower depending on the exercises and muscles examined by many studies.


A study carried out by Saeterbakken and Fimland, (2013) compared the muscle activation patterns in barbell and dumbbell shoulder presses performed seated and standing.

Here are the results


Deltoids:

-         Standing was significantly superior for deltoid activation in all 3 heads in barbells and dumbbells

-         Dumbbells were significantly superior for anterior and medial deltoid activation


Triceps:

-         No significant difference in seated vs standing exercises for tricep activation

-         Standing Barbell was significantly superior for tricep activation in Shoulder Pressing exercises


Conclusion

In conclusion, for the deltoids, the use of standing instead of seated body positioning increased muscle activation, as did dumbbells instead of barbells. Combining both standing and dumbbells demonstrated the highest muscular activity of the deltoids.


Other facts

Interestingly, muscle activity for the posterior deltoids was elevated in standing against seated. This could be because during standing presses, postural movements occur in the sagittal plane, which is not the case for seated presses with a backrest

Tricep activation was better in barbells, owing to the fact when you extend your arms during dumbbell exercises, results in moving the dumbbell further away from the shoulders in a horizontal position, but with a barbell both arms are locked in position and the load does not move further sideways from the shoulders.


Reference:

Saeterbakken, A.H. and Fimland, M.S., 2013. Effects of body position and loading modality on muscle activity and strength in shoulder presses. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 27(7), pp.1824-1831.

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