Comparison of Muscle Activity During a Ring Muscle Up and a Bar Muscle Up.

The muscle up (MU) is a variation of a common gymnastics movement that combines a pull up and a dip. It can be performed on a bar (BMU) or a set of rings (RMU). The difference in upper extremity muscle recruitment (MR) between BMU and RMU has not been evaluated. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare the MR of select muscles during BMU and RMU. Ten active males (27.6 ± 7.9 years) performed 5 repetitions of BMU and RMU in randomized order. Muscle recruitment of the upper (UT) and lower trapezius (LT), serratus anterior (SA), pectoralis major (PM), latissimus dorsi (LD), triceps brachii (TB), biceps brachii (BB), and forearm flexors (FF) was assessed using electromyography. A 2 × 2 ANOVA (ring vs bar, pull phase vs push phase) with repeated measures was performed for each muscle. Least significant differences post hoc tests were performed when a significant interaction effect occurred. The RMU significantly elicited more muscle activation in the UT (