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The effectiveness of bench press training with or without throws on strength and shot put distance of competitive university athletes

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Maximum force exertion against various resistance levels (heavy–light) is commonly implemented to improve both strength- and speed-oriented components of power. Medium–light resistances allow rapid accelerations, yet incur significant decelerations in the later concentric phase to bring the bar to a halt, which may limit the concentric effort and, therefore, the effectiveness of training. Accordingly, ballistic actions have been recommended. This study evaluated the effectiveness of power bench press training, with the bar thrown on a Smith machine (BPthrow) or without throwing (BPnon-throw), for developing strength and shot put distance.

Methods

Nine university shot-putters performed BPthrow and BPnon-throw at 50, 40 and 30% 1RM, as well as seated and standing shot put trials. Peak angular velocities at the elbow were measured in these tasks using a wireless electro-goniometer. Participants underwent 24 sessions of training (12 weeks) with either BPthrow (n = 5) or BPnon-throw (n = 4) at the three intensities (20 s × 2 sets at 50, 40 and 30% 1RM).

Results

The peak elbow velocity during BPthrow was 1.7 times greater than BPnon-throw for all intensities. The velocity of BPthrow at 30% 1RM (854.7°/s), however, was still slower than seated (1121.3°/s) and standing (1539.1°/s) shot puts. BPthrow training significantly improved 1RM (+ 10.0%) and the distances of seated (+ 11.7%) and standing (+ 3.8%) shot puts, while no performance changes occurred after BPnon-throw training.

Conclusion

When undergoing power bench press against medium–light resistances, maximum ballistic actions are important strategies for improving 1RM and shot put performance of university shot-putters.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

BPthrow :

Bench press throws

BPnon-throw :

Bench press non-throws

EMG:

Electromyogram/electromyography

P max :

Maximum mechanical power output

RM:

Repetition maximum

SSC:

Stretch-shortening cycle

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant number 15K16461. We would like to express our gratitude to all the subjects for their participation in this study. We also thank the laboratory members at Juntendo University, Graduate Schools of Health and Sports Science for their assistance in data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Health and Sports Science, Juntendo University, 1-1 Hiraga-gakuendai, Inzai, Chiba, 270-1695, Japan

    Akihiro Sakamoto, Akihiro Kuroda, Hisashi Naito & Kazuhiko Sakuma

  2. Discipline of Exercise and Sport Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney, 75 East Street, Lidcombe, NSW, 2141, Australia

    Peter James Sinclair

Authors
  1. Akihiro Sakamoto
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  2. Akihiro Kuroda
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  3. Peter James Sinclair
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  4. Hisashi Naito
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  5. Kazuhiko Sakuma
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Contributions

AS and AK conceived and designed research. AK and KS conducted experiments. AS, AK, PS, HN and KS analyzed data. AS, AK and PS wrote the manuscript. KS and HN supervised the research project. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Akihiro Sakamoto or Peter James Sinclair.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by William J. Kraemer.

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Sakamoto, A., Kuroda, A., Sinclair, P.J. et al. The effectiveness of bench press training with or without throws on strength and shot put distance of competitive university athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol 118, 1821–1830 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3917-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3917-9

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