Effect of the rest interval duration between contractions on muscle fatigue

Researchers at Universidade do Vale do Paraíba experimented to find the correlation between resting interval time and muscle fatigue. The researchers used 18 non-athletic subjects to study. Torque was measured using an isokinetic dynamometer. Each subject performed 30 contractions of the flexor muscle in the antagonist group of the elbow joint. Some subjects performed all 30 contractions at a set, but different from other subjects', angular speed, while others performed the 30 contractions at different angular speeds. The researchers discovered the greatest reduction in fatigue at the resting interval of 2.59 seconds while the greatest increase in fatigue at 0.54 seconds. These results were produced by measuring the greatest tangent to the graph of torque created. These results show that longer resting intervals slow down the process of fatigue while shorter resting intervals expedites the process of fatigue. These results can be used to increase optimum results in athletics as well as physical rehabilitation.