Sex Differences in Bench Press Muscle Activation With and Without Pre‐Exhaustion of Triceps Brachii

The aim of this study was to investigate possible sex‐differences in upper‐body relative strength and the magnitude of muscle activity during the bench press exercise with and without pre‐exhaustion (PreEx) of triceps brachii (TB) before the bench press. Resistance trained women ( n = 15) and men ( n = 15) were assigned to a crossover design where the order of PreEx was block randomized. Each participant completed two 10RM bench press, one without PreEx and one which followed immediately after PreEx to failure with 5 minutes rest in between. Before bench press electromyography electrodes were attached to muscles pectoralis major (PM), TB and deltoideus anterior (DA) and data were normalized to maximum voluntary isometric contraction (%MVIC). For data analyses, a mixed model ANOVA was used. Results showed that both women and men performed a similar number of repetitions in the bench press after PreEx ( p = 0.55). A sex‐difference was found in TB muscle activation where PreEx before bench press increased TB activation in women (post‐hoc p = 0.02) but not in men (post‐hoc p = 0.36). Moreover, PM activation increased similarly in women and men (post‐hoc p < 0.01 for both) following PreEx, while no changes in DA activation were detected in either sex. During the bench press without PreEx, no sex‐differences in muscle activation (%MVIC) were found in any of the three muscles examined. In conclusion, in resistance‐trained women, PreEx of the TB enhances activation of both the TB and PM during the bench press, whereas in men, PreEx increases activation only in the PM.