Comparison of electromyographic activity of shoulder muscles during two different pull-up test methods

Pull-up and modified pull-up tests are frequently used for shoulder muscles endurance evaluation by physical educators. Despite of using these tests, the difference of muscle activation pattern in pull-up and modified pull-up tests has not been documented clearly. However, the role of some important muscles such as anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid, trapezius and latissimus dorsi have not yet examined during these tests. This study aimed to determine effects of pull-up and modified pull-up tests on the EMGs recordings from selected muscles including anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid, biceps, triceps, pectoralis major, trapezius and latissimus dorsi. Ten able-bodied males (age: 25.32 ± 3.95 yrs; weight: 72.31 ± 7.24 kg) who were able to do at least 5 pull-ups were selected to participate in the study. Surface electromyographic data were recorded from selected muscles using De Luca and Basmajian’s method. ANOVA with repeated measures was employed for comparison of electromyographic activity in the selected muscles during pull-up and modified pull-up tests (p  0.05). The results revealed that in modified pull-up test anterior deltoid, posterior deltoid and trapezius muscles activation were significantly higher in comparison with pull-up test, while the EMG activity of biceps, triceps and pectoralis major was significantly higher in pull-up test.