Investigation of the Physiological Overflow Effect from Speed-Specific lsokinetic Activity

This article investigates the concept of physiological overflow during speed-specific isokinetic exercise. The idea was tested on 30 volunteers; 14 female, 16 male; mean age 24.5 years, age range 17-29 years; who were subjected to a repeated m o r e s experimental design. Testing involved 5 repetitions of knee extension/flexion at the velocity spectrum speeds of 80, 7 20, 180,240, and 300 degrees /sec preceded by a warm-up at 3 gradient submaximal repetitions and 1 maximal effort at each speed. The experimental treatment consisted of isokinetic exercise of the knee musculature to the level of 50% quadriceps fatigue at the speed of 180 degrees /sec in a format of 3sessions per week over a period of 8 weeks. Analysis of variance testing with repeated measures revealed statistically significant differences in quadriceps and hamstrings function for peak torque, torque acceleration energy, and watts average power at all velocity spectrum speeds over the period of experimentation. It was concluded that a +/-120 degrees /sec physiological overflow of exercise effects to both slower and faster speeds existed during the program of isokinetic activity. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1987;9(3):106-110.