Influence of Pedaling Cadence and Incremental Protocol on the Estimation of EMGFT

Duff, TM, Fournier, H, Hopp, OB, Ochshorn, E, Sanders, ES, Stevens, RE, and Malek, MH. Influence of pedaling cadence and incremental protocol on the estimation of EMGFT. J Strength Cond Res 30(8): 2206-2211, 2016-Theoretically, the electromyographic fatigue threshold (EMGFT) is the highest exercise intensity that an individual can exercise at indefinitely without an increase in electromyography (EMG) amplitude. This index is estimated from a single incremental test. There are, however, factors that may influence EMG amplitude such as pedaling cadence or the incremental protocol used. The purposes of this study were to determine whether different pedaling cadences and/or incremental protocols influence the estimation of the EMGFT. Eight healthy college-aged men performed incremental cycle ergometry on three separate visits. The participants exercised using the following combinations of pedaling cadences and incremental protocols in random order: 25 W at 70 RPM; 13 W at 70 RPM; and 25 W at 100 RPM. The EMGFT value was determined from the vastus lateralis muscle of each participant for each of the three conditions. Separate 1-way repeated measures analysis of variances were performed to determine mean differences for various outcome indices. The mean maximal power output for the 13 W at 70 RPM condition was significantly lower than the two other conditions. There were, however, no significant mean differences (F (2,14) = 2.03; p = 0.169) for EMGFT between the three conditions. The findings of this study indicated that different pedaling cadences and incremental protocols did not influence the estimation of the EMGFT.