Cycling performed on an innovative ergometer at different intensities–durations in men: neuromuscular fatigue and recovery kinetics

The majority of studies have routinely measured neuromuscular (NM) fatigue with a delay (∼1–3 min) after cycling exercises. This is problematic since NM fatigue can massively recover within the first 1–2 min after exercise. This study investigated the etiology of knee extensors (KE) NM fatigue and recovery kinetics in response to cycling exercises by assessing NM function as early as 10 s following cycling and up to 8 min of recovery. Ten young males performed different cycling exercises on different days: a Wingate (WING), a 10-min task at severe-intensity (SEV), and a 90-min task at moderate-intensity (MOD). Electrically evoked and isometric maximal voluntary contractions (IMVC) of KE were assessed before, after, and during recovery. SEV induced the highest decrease in IMVC. Peak twitch (Pt) was more reduced in WING and SEV than in MOD (p < 0.001), whereas voluntary activation decreased more after MOD than WING (p = 0.043). Regarding Pt and the ratio between low- and high-frequency doublet (i.e., low-frequency fatigue), recovery was faster for WING, whereas IMVC and high-frequency doublet recovered slower during MOD (p < 0.05). Our results confirm that peripheral fatigue is greater after WING and SEV, while central fatigue is greater following MOD. Peripheral fatigue can substantially recover within minutes after a supramaximal exercise while NM function recovered slower after prolonged, moderate-intensity exercise. This study provides an accurate estimation of NM fatigue and recovery kinetics because of dynamic exercise with large muscle mass by significantly shortening the delay for postexercise measurements.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author