Women show similar central and peripheral fatigue to men after half-marathon

Abstract

Women are known to be less fatigable than men in single-joint exercises, but fatigue induced by running has not been well understood. Here we investigated sex differences in central and peripheral fatigue and in rate of force development (RFD) in the knee extensors after a half-marathon run. Ten male and eight female amateur runners (aged 25–50 years) were evaluated before and immediately after a half-marathon race. Knee extensors forces were obtained under voluntary and electrically evoked isometric contractions. Maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVC) force and peak RFD were recorded. Electrically doublet stimuli were delivered during the MVC and at rest to calculate the level of voluntary activation and the resting doublet twitch. After the race, decreases in MVC force (males: −11%, effect size [ES] 0.52; females: −11% ES 0.33), voluntary activation (males: −6%, ES 0.87; females: −4%, ES 0.72), and resting doublet twitch (males: −6%, ES 0.34; females: −8%, ES 0.30) were found to be similar between males and females. The decrease in peak RFD was found to be similar between males and females (males: −14%, ES 0.43; females: −15%, ES 0.14). Half-marathon run induced both central and peripheral fatigue, without any difference between men and women. The maximal and explosive strength loss was found similar between sexes. Together, these findings do not support the need of sex-specific training interventions to increase the tolerance to neuromuscular fatigue in half-marathoners.