Neuromuscular characteristics and fatigue in endurance and sprint athletes during a new anaerobic power test

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate neuromuscular and energy performance characteristics of anaerobic power and capacity and the development of fatigue. Ten endurance and ten sprint athletes performed a new maximal anaerobic running power test (MARP), which consisted of n x 20-s runs on a treadmill with 100-s recovery between the runs. Blood lactate concentration [la-]b was measured after each run to determine submaximal and maximal indices of anaerobic power (P3 mmol.l-1, P5 mmol.l-1, P10 mmol.l-1 and Pmax) which was expressed as the oxygen demand of the runs according to the American College of Sports Medicine equation: the oxygen uptake (ml.kg-1.min-1) = 0.2 x velocity (m.min-1) + 0.9 x slope of treadmill (frac) x velocity (m.min-1) + 3.5. The height of rise of the centre of gravity of the counter movement jumps before (CMJrest) and during (CMJ) the MARP test, as well as the time of force production (tF) and electromyographic (EMG) activity of the leg muscles of CMJ performed after each run were used to describe the neuromuscular performance characteristics. The maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), anaerobic and aerobic thresholds were determined in the VO2max test, which consisted of n x 3-min runs on the treadmill.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)