{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T12:25:21Z","timestamp":1773663921931,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1773619200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Life"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: Strongman competitions impose extreme mechanical and metabolic stress on the shoulder girdle, yet quantitative neuromuscular responses under real competition conditions remain poorly characterized. Methods: Ten elite strongmen (Tier 4) and ten age-matched trained controls (Tier 2) completed an official Strongman Champions League competition protocol. Surface EMG was recorded from seven shoulder-girdle muscles during maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) trials performed immediately before and after competition. Normalized RMS amplitudes were expressed as a relative EMG index (% group peak) and analyzed using linear mixed-effects models with Benjamini\u2013Hochberg false discovery rate (FDR) correction. Results: Within-group analyses revealed no generalized pre\u2013post reductions in normalized EMG amplitude in either group after FDR correction. However, the control group demonstrated consistent negative pre\u2013post trends with moderate-to-large effect sizes across several muscles, particularly for mean and median descriptors. In contrast, elite strongmen exhibited smaller and more variable changes without a systematic decline. Difference-in-differences analysis showed that temporal changes generally favored the elite group. After FDR adjustment, a significant interaction was identified for the median lower trapezius amplitude (\u0394\u0394 = 33.76 \u00b1 9.13, pFDR = 0.021), indicating relatively greater preservation of neuromuscular activation in elite strongmen compared with controls. No contrast demonstrated a greater decline in the elite group. Conclusions: Although most effects did not survive correction for multiple testing, the observed effect-size patterns and a significantly lower trapezius interaction suggest greater stability of neuromuscular activation in elite strongmen compared with trained, non-specialized controls. These findings support muscle- and metric-specific fatigue resistance associated with long-term strongman training.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/life16030477","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]],"date-time":"2026-03-16T11:13:14Z","timestamp":1773659594000},"page":"477","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["The\u00a0Effects of an Acute Strongman Competition on Electromyographic Responses of the Shoulder Girdle Complex"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7074-0472","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafa\u0142","family":"Studnicki","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiotherapy, Medical University of Gda\u0144sk, 7 D\u0119binki Street, 80-211 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Julia","family":"Wasilewska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physiotherapy, Medical University of Gda\u0144sk, 7 D\u0119binki Street, 80-211 Gda\u0144sk, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4768-1785","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Igor Z.","family":"Zubrzycki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Radom University, Chrobrego 27, 26-600 Radom, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Magdalena","family":"Wiacek","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Radom University, Chrobrego 27, 26-600 Radom, Poland"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"885","DOI":"10.1519\/JSC.0b013e3181d4d41d","article-title":"Relationship between strength, power, speed, and change of direction performance of female softball players","volume":"24","author":"Nimphius","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. 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