Abstract
The purposes of this investigation were to: (a) examine the electromyographic (EMG) responses from the vastus lateralis during a continuous ride to exhaustion at the neuromuscular fatigue threshold (EMG(FT)) and (b) determine what percentage of the power output at V̇O(2max) the EMG(FT) represents. Fifteen adult males (mean ± SD = 22 ± 2 years) volunteered to perform an EMG(FT) test and a continuous ride to exhaustion at the EMG(FT) on separate days. A subsample of ten subjects completed an incremental cycle ergometer test for the determination of V̇O(2max). The mean (± SD) EMG(FT) for the total sample (n = 15) was 286 ± 40 W and the mean time to exhaustion at the EMG(FT) was 250 ± 85 sec. For each subject, the slope of the iEMG versus time relationship during the continuous ride to exhaustion at the EMG(FT) was significantly (p <0.05) greater than zero slope. For the subsample (n = 10), the mean EMG(FT) (296 ± 45 W) was not significantly (p > 0.05) different from the power output at V̇O(2max) (282 ± 47 W). These findings did not support the contention that the EMG(FT) can be sustained without electromyographic evidence of neuromuscular fatigue and indicated that the EMG(FT) was comparable to the power output at V̇O(2max).