Acute Influence of Leg Press Exercise on Hamstring Muscles Functional Stress

Propuse: The objective was to verify the acute influence of the Leg Press 45° (LP) exercise on the functional stress of the hamstring muscles, through a test of maximum repetitions in 13 men. Methods: Four different situations of the stress of the previous hamstring muscles were induced by the combination of the LP, Knee Flexor (KF), Stiff (ST) and Elbow Flexion (EF) exercises, to measure the level of reduction of the hamstring muscles functional capacity after each exercise and compares them to the LP. The procedures consisted of performing the KF exercise 10s after the execution of the EF, and KF 10s after the execution of the ST, and KF 10s after the execution of the KF itself, and FJ 10 s after the execution of the LP. Results: The functional stress of the hamstring muscles caused by the execution of the four exercises subsequently (10s) to the execution of the KF was: EF = 9.2%, ST = 53.1%, KF = 70.8% and LP = 15.4%. When comparing functional reductions between exercises, we found a significant difference between LP and ST (p = 0.001) and between LP and KF (p = 0.001). However, the reduction was not significant when comparing the LP and EF (p = 0.414). The ST also showed a significant difference for the KF (p = 0.001) and for the EF (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The level of functional reduction of hamstring muscles in the execution of the leg press 45° was similar to that verified in EF, both being significantly lower than the functional reductions in ST and in the KF itself.