Grey Relational Analysis of Lower Limb Muscle Fatigue and Pedalling Performance Decline of Elite Athletes during a 30-Second All-Out Sprint Cycling Exercise.

The 30-second all-out sprint cycling exercise is a classical sport capacity evaluation method, which may cause severe lower limb muscle fatigue. However, the relationship between lower limb muscle fatigue and the decline in exercise performance during 30-second sprint cycling remains unclear. In this study, ten cyclists volunteered to participate in a 30-second all-out sprint cycling while power, cadence, and surface electromyographic (EMG) signals of eight lower limb muscles were recorded during the exercise. EMG mean frequency (MNF) of each lower limb muscle group was computed for every 3-second epoch based on wavelet packet transformation. Grey relational grades between pedalling performance and the EMG MNF of each lower limb muscle group during the whole process were calculated. The results demonstrated that EMG MNF of the rectus femoris (RF), vastus (VAS), gastrocnemius (GAS), and tibialis anterior (TA) progressively tired during a 30-second all-out sprint cycling exercise. Of the muscles evaluated, the degree of fatigue of TA showed the greatest association with exercise performance decline, whereas the muscle fatigue of RF, VAS, and GAS also significantly impacted exercise performance during a 30-second all-out sprint cycling exercise.

Pedaling Performance Changing of Elite Cyclists Is Mainly Determined by the Fatigue of Hamstring and Vastus Muscles during Repeated Sprint Cycling Exercise.

Repeated sprint cycling is an effective training method in promoting athletic performance of cyclists, which may induce severe fatigue of lower limb muscles. However, the relationship between the fatigue of each lower limb muscles and the changing of exercise performance remains unclear. In this study, ten cyclist volunteers performed a series of 6-second sprints with 24-s recovery for five times. Power, cadence, and EMG mean frequency (MNF) of each lower limb muscle group for every 2-second epoch, as well as the grey relational grade between exercise performance and MNF of each lower limb muscle group during the whole process were calculated. It has been found that MNF of Rectus femoris (RF), Vastus (VAS), Gastrocnemius (GAS), and the hamstring muscle group (HAM) showed significant negative correlation with the increase in both sprint number and intrasprint duration time, while the grey relational grade of HAM and VAS was higher than that of other muscles. The results demonstrated that the exercise performance of both power and cadence were most closing related to the fatigue degree of HAM and VAS during repeated sprint cycling exercise.

Fatigue-related electromyographic coherence and phase synchronization analysis between antagonistic elbow muscles.

The aim of this study was to examine coherence and phase synchronization between antagonistic elbow muscles and thus to explore the coupling and common neural inputs of antagonistic elbow muscles during sustained submaximal isometric fatiguing contraction. Fifteen healthy male subjects sustained an isometric elbow flexion at 20 % maximal level until exhaustion, while surface electromyographic signals (sEMG) were collected from biceps brachii (BB) and triceps brachii (TB). sEMG signals were divided into the first half (stage 1 with minimal fatigue) and second half (stage 2 with severe fatigue) of the contraction. Coherence and phase synchronization analysis was conducted between sEMG of BB and TB, and coherence value and phase synchronization index in alpha (8-12 Hz), beta (15-35 Hz) and gamma (35-60 Hz) frequency bands were obtained. Significant increase in EMG-EMG coherence and phase synchronization index in alpha and beta frequency bands between antagonistic elbow flexion muscles was observed all increased in stage 2 compared to stage 1. Coupling of EMG activities between antagonistic muscles increased as a result of fatigue caused by 20 % maximal level sustained isometric elbow flexion, indicating the increased interconnection between synchronized cortical neurons and the motoneuron pool of BB and TB, which may be cortical in origin. This increased coupling may help to maintain coactivation level so as to ensure joint stability on the basis of maintaining the joint force output.