The best exercises based on EMG studies
We know there are hundreds of different exercises you can do in the gym. Choosing among so many is especially hard for beginners. How are we supposed to know which ones are truly the most effective? It isn’t only beginners who struggle to decide: even experienced lifters should be able to pick out the best exercises from the many different lifts available.
How do we do that? Thanks to EMG (electromyography), it’s possible to identify the most effective exercises for different muscles (muscle groups). EMG is a method that measures the electrical impulses generated beneath the skin surface of a working muscle while it is doing work.
Electrodes are placed on the skin (over the muscle being tested) and record the electrical activity in different regions of a single muscle. Different electrical activity across regions also indicates different muscle tension in each region, produced by a given exercise. The muscle tension in different regions of a muscle during an exercise also reflects the total percentage of muscle fibers taking part in the work during that exercise.
Below are the best exercises for each muscle (muscle group), from most to least effective. The percentage after each exercise is the share of muscle fibers working during that movement.
Chest
- Dumbbell decline bench press – 93%
- Dumbbell incline press – 91%
- Barbell decline press – 89%
- Dumbbell flat bench press – 87%
- Barbell flat bench press – 85%
We can see that the barbell bench press comes last on this list. It has to be said that dumbbell presses are more effective than barbell presses.
Biceps
- One-arm preacher curl *
- Seated incline dumbbell curl *
- Close-grip barbell curl *
The best exercises for the biceps are the ones that isolate it. It’s very hard to cheat when you do one-arm curls on a preacher bench. Likewise, seated curls on an incline bench create a very powerful stretch in the bottom position.
Triceps
- Decline skull crusher *
- Cable rope triceps pushdown *
The skull crusher is an effective exercise anyway, but the decline angle keeps tension on the triceps throughout the entire movement. With the rope pushdown, we can increase the range of motion of the pushdown beyond what’s usual.
Latissimus dorsi
- Bent-over barbell row – 93%
- Bent-over dumbbell row – 91%
- T-bar rows – 89%
- Cable lat pulldowns – 86%
- Seated rows – 83%
I was surprised that pull-ups turned out not to be the most effective back exercise. Instead, the bent-over barbell row is the exercise that recruits the most lat muscle. It should be part of every lat workout, whether at the beginning, in the middle or at the end. Just make sure it’s in there.
Shoulders (side delts)
- Dumbbell lateral raise leaning on an incline bench – 66%
- Standing dumbbell lateral raise – 63%
- Seated dumbbell lateral raise – 62%
- Cable lateral raise – 47%
As we can see, sitting down also reduces the effectiveness of dumbbell raises somewhat. It’s also clear that dumbbells are considerably more effective than cables.
Shoulders (rear delts)
- Standing bent-over dumbbell lateral raise – 85%
- Seated dumbbell lateral raise – 83%
- Standing bent-over lateral raise, but with a cable or wire – 77%
Calves
- Donkey calf raise – 80%
- One-leg standing calf raise – 79%
- Two-leg standing calf raise – 68%
- Seated calf raise – 61%
The donkey calf raise is a forgotten exercise that is rarely done today. If you have weak calves, you should definitely include it. It also turned out that the one-leg calf raise variations are considerably more effective than two-leg calf raises.
Back of the thigh
- Standing leg curl – 82%
- Lying leg curl – 71%
- Seated leg curl – 58%
- Straight-leg deadlift – 56%
As with the calves, many leg curls done with one leg recruit considerably more muscle fibers per leg.
Quadriceps
- Leg extensions *
- Squat *
- Lunges *
According to EMG, the most effective exercise for the quadriceps is the leg extension. The reason is that it is an isolation exercise for the quadriceps, which means the quadriceps have to do all the work during the extension. Even so, squats should be part of every leg workout. The squat is the best compound exercise, meaning it recruits many different muscles, but it still recruits the quadriceps to a large degree.
Abs
- Bicycle crunches *
- Hanging leg raises *
- Crunches on a large exercise ball *
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvOf88Xp89o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVBddP5oW8Y
Bicycle crunches work all regions of the abs – the upper abs, the lower abs and the transverse muscles. Crunches on the ball also recruit a large number of stabilizing muscles.
What can we conclude from this?
First, obviously, no exercise ever recruits all of the muscle fibers. That is also why you need to use a variety of exercises in your training plans.
The research described in this article did not test every exercise, and of course different exercises affect each individual somewhat differently. Nor can we say that the exercises described above are always the best mass builders. But when it comes to recruiting the fibers of a single muscle or muscle group, the exercises described above are the most effective ones.
* There are no direct studies that determined the total number of fibers involved in the exercise. However, this exercise has been found to be the one that loads the muscle in question the most. It is advisable to include it in your training plans.
Sources
The science behind the physique: EMG Relived.
Fahey, Thomas EdD. 25 best lifts. December, 2001.
The translation comes from here.
From the translator: I still put the links from the end of the article below, but if you try to follow them, nothing opens. What should we make of the article, and what should we do with the knowledge we get from it? Of course, it is interesting to know which exercises recruit the most muscle fibers, but let’s not take this knowledge as the final truth. Because which do you think develops quadriceps strength and mass more: when we do leg extensions with 7 plates and 88% of the quadriceps fibers are working, or when we do 8 squats with 200 kg, but perhaps only 68–70% of the quadriceps fibers are working during the squat (the percentages are just examples)? I would definitely bet on the squat. I think this is how we should approach quite a few other pairs of exercises for a given muscle. Also, when it comes to legs, I was surprised that the leg press wasn’t mentioned at all.
By the way, a similar article series is currently also running on http://www.tnation.com/. It assesses the effectiveness of different exercises through EMG:
BACK AND BICEPS
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/ sports_body_training_performance/ins
SHOULDERS AND TRAPS
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/ sports_body_training_performance/ins
CHEST AND TRICEPS
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/ sports_body_training_performance/ins
Translated by: Janar Rückenberg
Come and work out! ArtGym
