Inter-relationship between muscle morphology, mechanical output and electromyographic activity during fatiguing dynamic knee-extensions in untrained females

Changes in mechanical performance and electromyographic activity during fatiguing dynamic knee-extensions were evaluated with respect to muscle fibre type composition of the vastus lateralis muscle in nine sedentary female [23 (3) pears] volunteers. The subjects performed 150 repetitive maximum knee-extensions using a Cybex dynamometer at 1.57 rad.s(-1). EMG activity was recorded from the vastus lateralis, the vastus medialis and the rectus femoris muscles. For each contraction, mean power frequency (MPF) and the root mean square (RMS) of the EMG were calculated, simultaneously with the peak torque (PT), contractional work (CW) and the mean power (MP). The MPF showed an initial decrease followed by a stable phase. The RMS increased during the initial seven contractions, after which a period of variability was displayed until about the 60th contraction. At the plateau level (last 50 contractions) the relative RMS values were not significantly different from the initial values. The PT, CW and MP increased during the initial five to ten contractions, after which a two-phase pattern was displayed, with a gradual decline followed by a stable phase. The absolute plateau level of MPF for the vastus lateralis muscle showed a significant negative correlation with the area percentage of type-1 fibres (I = -0.71). Significant correlations were also demonstrated to occur between the absolute plateau levels of PT, CW and MP and the relative proportion of type-1 fibres (r = 0.80, r = 0.82 and r = 0.82 respectively). Thus, in female subjects the mechanical performance and the MPF during fatigue are at least partly determined by muscle morphology.