Muscle activation during three sets to failure at 80 vs. 30 % 1RM resistance exercise
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate electromyographic amplitude (EMG AMP), EMG mean power frequency (MPF), exercise volume (VOL), total work and muscle activation (iEMG), and time under concentric load (TUCL) during, and muscle cross-sectional area (mCSA) before and after 3 sets to failure at 80 vs. 30 % 1RM resistance exercise. Methods Nine men (mean ± SD, age 21.0 ± 2.4 years, resistance training week(-1) 6.0 ± 3.7 h) and 9 women (age 22.8 ± 3.8 years, resistance training week(-1) 3.4 ± 3.5 h) completed 1RM testing, followed by 2 experimental sessions during which they completed 3 sets to failure of leg extension exercise at 80 or 30 % 1RM. EMG signals were collected to quantify EMG AMP and MPF during the initial, middle, and last repetition of each set. Ultrasound was used to assess mCSA pre- and post-exercise, and VOL, total work, iEMG, and TUCL were calculated. Results EMG AMP remained greater at 80 % than 30 % 1RM across all reps and sets, despite increasing 74 and 147 % across reps at 80 and 30 % 1RM, respectively. EMG MPF decreased across reps at 80 and 30 % 1RM, but decreased more and was lower for the last reps at 30 than 80 % 1RM (71.6 vs. 78.1 % MVIC). mCSA increased more from pre- to post-exercise for 30 % (20.2-24.1 cm(2)) than 80 % 1RM (20.3-22.8 cm(2)). VOL, total work, iEMG and TUCL were greater for 30 % than 80 % 1RM. Conclusion Muscle activation was greater at 80 % 1RM. However, differences in volume, metabolic byproduct accumulation, and m…
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
A compelling body of studies using surface electromyography has shown greater muscle activity with the use of high compared to low loads.
“A compelling body of studies using surface electromyography (EMG) have shown greater muscle activity with the use of high- compared to low loads [63,64,65,66,67].”
From Loading recommendations for muscle strength, hypertrophy, and local endurance: a re-examination of the repetition continuum. (2021) · cites this paper as [66]
Cites
Intraclass correlations: Uses in assessing rater reliability.
Shrout, P. E., & Fleiss, J. L. (1979) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.86.2.420 · Cited by 23,433 · see citing works
Garber, C. E., Blissmer, B., Deschenes, M. R., Franklin, B. A., Lamonte, M. J., Lee, I.-M., Nieman, D. C., & Swain, D. P. (2011) · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · doi:10.1249/mss.0b013e318213fefb · Cited by 9,319 · see citing works
The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training
Schoenfeld, B. J. (2010) · Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181e840f3 · Cited by 1,214 · see citing works
Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men
Mitchell, C. J., Churchward-Venne, T. A., West, D. W. D., Burd, N. A., Breen, L., Baker, S. K., & Phillips, S. M. (2012) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00307.2012 · Cited by 627 · see citing works
Burd, N. A., West, D. W. D., Staples, A. W., Atherton, P. J., Baker, J. M., Moore, D. R., Holwerda, A. M., Parise, G., Rennie, M. J., Baker, S. K., et al. (2010) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0012033 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
Schoenfeld, B. J., Peterson, M. D., Ogborn, D., Contreras, B., & Sonmez, G. T. (2015) · Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000000958 · Cited by 418 · see citing works
Muscle hypertrophy and fast fiber type conversions in heavy resistance-trained women.
Staron, R. S., Malicky, E. S., Leonardi, M. J., Falkel, J. E., Hagerman, F. C., & Dudley, G. A. (1990) · European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology · doi:10.1007/bf00572189 · Cited by 328 · see citing works
Terzis, G., Spengos, K., Mascher, H., Georgiadis, G., Manta, P., & Blomstrand, E. (2010) · European Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1007/s00421-010-1527-2 · Cited by 110 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Schoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Ogborn, D., & Krieger, J. W. (2017) · Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000002200 · Cited by 851 · see citing works
Morton, R. W., Oikawa, S. Y., Wavell, C. G., Mazara, N., McGlory, C., Quadrilatero, J., Baechler, B. L., Baker, S. K., & Phillips, S. M. (2016) · Journal of Applied Physiology · doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00154.2016 · Cited by 404 · see citing works
“It has even been suggested, on the basis of only acute electromyography (EMG) data [despite caution on use of EMG in this manner (10)], that greater motor unit recruitment occurs when lifting heavier loads even if heavier and lighter loads are performed to volitional failure (16, 21).”
BackgroundSchoenfeld, B. J., Grgic, J., Van Every, D. W., & Plotkin, D. L. (2021) · Sports · doi:10.3390/sports9020032 · Cited by 334 · see citing works
Morton, R. W., Sonne, M. W., Farias Zuniga, A., Mohammad, I. Y. Z., Jones, A., McGlory, C., Keir, P. J., Potvin, J. R., & Phillips, S. M. (2019) · The Journal of Physiology · doi:10.1113/jp278056 · Cited by 139 · see citing works
Training Volume, Not Frequency, Indicative of Maximal Strength Adaptations to Resistance Training
Colquhoun, R. J., Gai, C. M., Aguilar, D., Bove, D., Dolan, J., Vargas, A., Couvillion, K., Jenkins, N. D. M., & Campbell, B. I. (2018) · Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000002414 · Cited by 108 · see citing works
Self-citationNóbrega, S. R., Ugrinowitsch, C., Pintanel, L., Barcelos, C., & Libardi, C. A. (2018) · Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000001787 · Cited by 97 · see citing works
Nuzzo, J. L., Pinto, M. D., Nosaka, K., & Steele, J. (2024) · Sports Medicine · doi:10.1007/s40279-023-01937-7 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Miller, J. D., Lippman, J. D., Trevino, M. A., & Herda, T. J. (2020) · Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000003694 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Mangine, G. T., Serafini, P. R., Stratton, M. T., Olmos, A. A., VanDusseldorp, T. A., & Feito, Y. (2022) · Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research · doi:10.1519/jsc.0000000000004158 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
Banks, N. F., Rogers, E. M., Helwig, N. J., Schwager, L. E., Alpers, J. P., Schulte, S. L., Trachta, E. R., Lockwood, C. M., & Jenkins, N. D. M. (2024) · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · doi:10.1080/15502783.2023.2297988 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“EMG sensors were placed as we have previously described [34,35].”
MethodSelf-citation
- Authors
- Jenkins, N. D. M., Housh, T. J., Bergstrom, H. C., Cochrane, K. C., Hill, E. C., Smith, C. M., Johnson, G. O., Schmidt, R. J., & Cramer, J. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- University of Kentucky (US)
- Corresponding author
- Cramer, Joel T.
- ORCID
- Venue
- European Journal of Applied Physiology
- Published
- 2015-07-10
- Volume
- 115
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 2335-2347
- ISSN
- 0020-9376 (ISSN-L)
- 1439-6319
- 1439-6327
- OpenAlex
- W763285852
- Cited by
- 140
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 10 · 2020: 21 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 4
- FWCI
- 6.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- European Journal of Applied Physiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Muscle activation and electromyography studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
- Keywords
- muscle activation, resistance training, 1RM load, electromyographic amplitude, mean power frequency, muscle cross-sectional area, exercise volume, total work, leg extension, muscle hypertrophy, muscle strength, muscle swelling
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Electromyography, Female, Humans, Male, Exercise, Muscle, Skeletal, Muscle Fatigue, Muscle Strength, Resistance Training, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
