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Running mechanics and leg muscle activity patterns during early and late acceleration phases of repeated treadmill sprints in male recreational athletes

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European Journal of Applied Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

We determined whether running mechanics and leg muscle activity patterns for pre-activation (50 ms prior to foot contact) and loading (first half, second half and entire stance) phases vary between early, late and entire acceleration phases during repeated treadmill sprints.

Methods

Ten male athletes performed three sets of five 5-s sprint accelerations (25-s and 3-min recovery between sprints and sets, respectively) on an instrumented treadmill. Ground reaction forces and surface EMG data (root mean square values of vastus lateralis, rectus femoris, biceps femoris, gastrocnemius medialis, gastrocnemius lateralis and tibialis anterior muscles of the right leg) corresponding to early, late and entire acceleration (steps 2, 4 and 6; steps 8, 10 and 12; and all steps, respectively) have been compared.

Results

Independently of fatigue, vertical and horizontal forces, contact time, step length, and step frequency differed as running velocity increased over different sprint acceleration sections (all P < 0.05). For pre-activation, first half, second half and entire stance phases taken separately, each of the six studied muscles displayed specific main sprint number and analysis section effects (all P < 0.05). However, there was in general no significant interaction between sprint number and analysis section (all P > 0.27).

Conclusion

During repeated treadmill sprints, ground reaction force variables and leg muscle activity patterns can vary between early, late and entire acceleration phases. Identification of neuro-mechanical adjustments across the gait cycle with fatigue, however, did not differ when considering all steps or only a few steps during the early or late acceleration phases.

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Abbreviations

BF:

Biceps femoris muscle

EARLY:

Early acceleration phase

ENTIRE:

Entire acceleration phase

GL:

Gastrocnemius lateralis muscle

GM:

Gastrocnemius medialis muscle

GRF:

Ground reaction force

LATE:

Late acceleration phase

RF:

Rectus femoris muscle

RMS:

Root mean square

sEMG:

Surface electromyography

TA:

Tibialis anterior muscle

VL:

Vastus lateralis muscle

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank the participants for their maximal efforts and cooperation.

Funding

This work is based on research funded by QNRF (NPRP 4–760–3–217).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Sciences (Exercise and Sport Science), The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia

    Olivier Girard

  2. Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Doha, Qatar

    Olivier Girard

  3. Laboratory Sport, Expertise and Performance (EA 7370), French Institute of Sport (INSEP), Paris, France

    Franck Brocherie

  4. Université Côte D’Azur, LAMHESS, Nice, France

    Jean-Benoit Morin

  5. Université Lyon, UJM-Saint-Etienne, Inter-university Laboratory of Human Movement Biology (EA 7424), Saint-Etienne, France

    Jean-Benoit Morin

  6. Institute of Sport Sciences, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Grégoire P. Millet

  7. Department of Neurology, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany

    Clint Hansen

Authors
  1. Olivier Girard
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  2. Franck Brocherie
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  3. Jean-Benoit Morin
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  4. Grégoire P. Millet
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  5. Clint Hansen
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Contributions

OG, FB, and GPM conceived and designed research. OG and FB conducted experiments. OG, FB, JBM and CH analyzed data. All authors interpreted results of experiments. OG drafted manuscript and prepared figures/tables. All authors edited and revised manuscript. All authors approved final version of manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Olivier Girard.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by Toshio Moritani.

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Girard, O., Brocherie, F., Morin, JB. et al. Running mechanics and leg muscle activity patterns during early and late acceleration phases of repeated treadmill sprints in male recreational athletes. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 2785–2796 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04500-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-020-04500-8

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