Abstract
This study investigated the effects of 9-week endurance cycling training on central fatigability and corticomotor excitability of the locomotor muscles. Fourteen healthy participants undertook three incremental fatiguing cycling tests to volitional exhaustion (EXH): (i) before training (PRE), (ii) after training at the same absolute power output as PRE (POSTABS) and (iii) after training at the same percentage of V̇O2max as PRE (POSTREL). At baseline (i.e. before cycling), every 5 min during cycling and immediately at EXH, a neuromuscular evaluation including a series of 5-s knee extensions at 100, 75 and 50% of maximal voluntary knee extension (MVC) was performed. During each contraction, transcranial magnetic and peripheral nerve stimuli were elicited to obtain motor evoked potential (MEP), silent period (SP) and compound muscle action potential (Mmax) and to calculate voluntary activation (VA). The MEP·Mmax−1 ratio recorded from vastus lateralis at 100 and 50% MVC did not show any difference between conditions. At 75% MVC, MEP exhibited significantly lower values in POSTABS and POSTREL compared to PRE at baseline (P = 0.022 and P = 0.011, respectively) as well as at 25% of time to EXH of PRE (P = 0.022) for POSTREL. No adaptations, either at baseline or during cycling, were observed for VA and SPs. In conclusion, endurance training may result in some adaptations in the corticomotor responses when measured at rest or with low level of fatigue, yet these adaptations do not translate into attenuation of central fatigue at a similar cycling workload or at exhaustion.
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Abbreviations
- BF:
-
Biceps femoris
- CST:
-
Constant-load submaximal training
- Db100:
-
High-frequency doublet
- EMG:
-
Electromyography
- EXH:
-
Exhaustion
- HIIT:
-
High-intensity interval training
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- MEP:
-
Motor evoked potential
- MEP100, MEP75, MEP50 :
-
MEP·Mmax− 1 ratio (i.e. MEP is expressed as a % of Mmax recorded at 100, 75 and 50% of MVC, respectively)
- SP100, SP75, SP50 :
-
Silent period recorded at 100, 75 and 50% of MVC, respectively
- MVC:
-
Maximal voluntary contraction
- NMF:
-
Neuromuscular fatigue
- PNS:
-
Peripheral motor nerve stimulation
- POSTABS :
-
Fatigue session based on the same absolute power output as before training
- POSTREL :
-
Fatigue session based on the same relative intensity as before training
- PRE:
-
Initial fatigue test
- RMS:
-
Root mean square
- RMS100·Mmax100 − 1, RMS75·Mmax75 − 1 RMS50·Mmax50 − 1 :
-
Root mean square is expressed as a % of Mmax amplitude recorded at 100, 75 and 50% of MVC, respectively
- RPE:
-
Rate of perceived exertion
- SIT:
-
Superimposed twitch
- SP:
-
Silent period
- TMS:
-
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
- TTE:
-
Time to exhaustion
- VAPNS :
-
Voluntary activation (using peripheral nerve stimulation)
- VATMS :
-
Voluntary activation (using transcranial magnetic stimulation)
- VL:
-
Vastus lateralis
- \({\dot{{\rm V}}}\)O2max :
-
Maximal oxygen uptake
- \({\dot{{\rm V}}}\)O2peak :
-
Peak \({\dot{{\rm V}}}\)O2
- W max :
-
Maximal aerobic power output
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Acknowledgements
Saied Jalal Aboodarda was funded by the Eyes High Postdoctoral Scholars. This study was also supported by the Université Savoie Mont Blanc as part of the doctoral work of José Mira.
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TR, GYM, SJA, and JM conceived and designed the research. SJA, JM, MF, RJ, SJM, and KA conducted the experiment and analyzed data. SJA wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Communicated by Phillip D Chilibeck.
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Aboodarda, S.J., Mira, J., Floreani, M. et al. Effects of endurance cycling training on neuromuscular fatigue in healthy active men. Part II: Corticospinal excitability and voluntary activation. Eur J Appl Physiol 118, 2295–2305 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3951-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-018-3951-7