The surface EMG was recorded from above the quadriceps muscle in 3 male subjects during bicycle ergometry at work loads between 20 and 100% of the VO2 max to measure the EMG amplitude (RMS) and frequency (assessed from the center frequency of the power spectra) during this type of work. During brief (3 min) bouts of work the RMS amplitude of the EMG was linearly related to the work load; the center frequency of the EMG power spectra was the same at all work loads examined. In contrast, during sustained bouts of work maintained for 80 min at 20 and 40% of the VO2 max, the RMS amplitude of the EMG remained constant while the center frequency initially increased for the first 20 min of work and then progressively decreased as the work continued. When work loads of 60, 80, and 100% of the VO2 max were sustained to fatigue, the RMS amplitude continually increased while the EMG frequency decreased from the beginning to the end of the work periods. The results of this study showed that the EMG is a complex waveform, being influenced not only by fatigue, but to even a larger extent in many cases, the temperature of the exercising muscles. Therefore, although muscular fatigue caused an increase in the RMS amplitude and decrease in the center frequency, the increase in muscle temperature associated with the work opposed these changes by causing a reduction in the RMS amplitude and an increase in the center frequency.

Seven healthy young women, 3 whom had been taking oral contraceptives, were examined during the course of 2 menstrual cycles to assess their isometric strength, their endurance during a series of 5 fatiguing isometric contractions at a tension of 40% MVC, and their blood pressures and heart rates during those fatiguing contractions. Two sets of experiments were performed, one in which the subject's forearm temperature was allowed to vary as a function of T A, and one with the muscle temperature stabilized by immersion of the forearm in water at 37 degrees C. During exposure to ambient temperatures, isometric strength and both the heart rate and blood pressure responses at rest and at the end of a fatiguing, sustained isometric exercise, were not significantly different during any phase of the menstrual cycle in any subject. In contrast, the isometric endurance in the women not taking oral contraceptives varied sinusoidally in all 5 contractions with a peak endurance midway through the ovulatory phase and the lowest endurance mid-way through the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle. The isometric endurance of the women taking oral contraceptives did not vary during their menstrual cycle. After stabilization of the temperature of the muscles of the forearm in water at 37 degrees C, the isometric endurance of the normal subjects showed a hyperbolic response with the maximal endurance at the beginning and end of their cycles, and the shortest endurance at mid-cycle. Here again, however, the isometric endurance of the women taking oral contraceptives did not vary after immersion of their forearms in the 37 degree C water.

The volunteers for this study were 83 women, aged 19-65 yr, drawn from several different occupations. Three minutes after exerting maximal handgrip strength (MVC) each subject held a tension of 40 percent MVC to fatigue. Blood pressures and heart rates were measured before, during, and after the endurance of contraction. Age was associated with a reduction of strength of the women, whereas their endurance at 40 percent at 40 per cent MVC increased. There was evidence that menopause enhanced those age effects for strength and endurance. At rest, age was associated with a decreased heart rate. As expected, the heart rates of all the women increased during the endurance contraction. But that increase was greater for the younger than for the older women, thereby exaggerating the difference due to age already seen at rest. Systolic blood pressure at rest was higher with age and, in a similar manner, that relationship was also exaggerated throughout the isometric contraction. Diastolic blood pressure, however, was not changed with age at rest, and although the diastolic pressure increased during the isometric exercise, the rate of increase was unaffected by age. The results obtained are compared with those from a similarly large number of men examined in identical circumstances.

Four male subjects were examined to assess the relationship of body fat content to deep muscle temperature and the endurance of a fatiguing isometric handgrip contraction at a tension set at 40% MVC. Muscle temperature was altered by the immersion of the forearm in water at temperatures varying from 7.5 to 40 degrees C. In all subjects, there was a water bath temperature above and below which isometric endurance decreased markedly; the difference among individuals was solely accounted for by the individual's body fat content. Thus, subjects with higher body fat content required lower bath temperatures to cool the forearm musculature to its optimum temperature, which we found to always be approximately 27 degrees C measured 2 cm perpendicularly to the skin in the belly of the brachioradialis muscle. Further, in one subject, we found that a reduction in this subject's body fat content resulted in a corresponding increase in the water bath temperature necessary to cool his muscles to their optimum isometric performance. The data demonstrate the striking insulative power of the thin layer of fat around the forearm in man in protecting shell tissues from cold exposure.

A new approach has been devised to assess the "static component" of dynamic exercise. This technique involves the measurement of the isometric endurance of muscles which have just taken part in rhythmic exercise and depends on the repeatability of trained subjects in isometric effort. The premise is that isometric endurance will be inversely related to the static component of the preceeding dynamic exercise. The subjects worked on a bicycle ergometer at known fractions of their maximal aerobic capacity (max Vo2). The rate of pedalling was varied from 30 to 90 rpm, so that for a given % max Vo2, the belt tension varied inversely with the speed of cycling. At any one speed of cycling, isometric endurance decreased as the belt tension increased. Following exercise at 30 rpm, the isometric endurance was 25 to 50% lower than that found at the most advantageous speed of cycling for our subuects; at these faster rates of cycling two subjects showed least static component following exercise at 90 rpm while the remaining subject performed best after cycling at 50 rpm.