Comparison of the effects of an eight-week push-up program using stable versus unstable surfaces.

Filed under: Rehab Centers

Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2012 Dec; 7(6): 586-94
Chulvi-Medrano I, Martínez-Ballester E, Masiá-Tortosa L

Recently, the trend among physical training and rehabilitation professionals is the use of resistance exercise on unstable equipment in order to increase the effort of the agonist and stabilizing muscles. It is unknown if performing exercises on unstable surfaces provides a greater training stimulus as compared to training on a stable training surface. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to compare the effect that push-up training on stable and unstable surfaces had on strength performance in healthy young men.Thirty subjects with experience in resistance training participated in push-up training two days per week for eight weeks on one of three different surfaces: the floor (Tp), the T-Bow® (TBp) or the BOSU® (Bp).Strength, as measured by one repetition maximum (1-RM) and muscle endurance, as measured by number of pushups performed did not improve significantly (p>0.05) for any of the intervention… Continue reading →