Electromyographic Activity of Lower Body Muscles during the Deadlift and Still-Legged Deadlift

Bezerra ES, Simão, R, Fleck SJ, Paz G, Maia M, Costa PB, Amadio AC, Miranda H, Serrão JC. Electromyographic Activity of Lower Body Muscles during the Deadlift and Still-Legged Deadlift. JEPonline 2013;16(3):30-39. The purpose of this study was to analyze eletromyographic (EMG) signal of biceps femoris (BF), vastus lateralis (VL), lumbar multifidus (LM), anterior tibialis (AT), and medial gastrocnemius (MG) during the deadlift (DL) and stiff-legged deadlift (SLDL). Fourteen men (26.71 ± 4.99 yrs; body mass 88.42 ± 12.39 kg; 177.71 ± 8.86 cm) voluntarily participated in this study. The data were obtained on three non-consecutive days separated by 48 hrs. In the first day, anthropometric measures and the repetition maximum testing (1 RM) for both exercises were applied in a counter-balanced cross-over design. On the second day, the 1 RM was re-tested. On the third day, both exercises were performed at 70% of 1 RM and the EMG data were collected. Parameters related to the RMS during the movement, temporal activation patterns, and relative times of activation were analyzed for each muscle. The maximum activation level for VL during the DL (128.3 ± 33.9% of the EMG peak average) was significantly different (P = 0.027) from the SLDL (101.1 ± 14% of the EMG peak average). These findings should be useful when emphasizing different muscle groups in a resistance training program