Isometric Strength Fatigue Patterns in Female Subjects

Abstract

Following two sessions to establish maximum strength, 33 female subjects were given 30 trials of isometric wrist flexion on each limb with intertrial rest period conditions of 10 and 20 seconds. Subjects were ranked on the basis of the mean strength of the right wrist on test Day 2 and divided into three groups of 11 subjects each, representing high, middle, and low levels of strength. Analysis of variance of the fatigue curve trends suggested that: (a) fatigue patterns were not the same under any of the four conditions, with the low level of strength group exhibiting the most discrepant patterns; (b) fatigue patterns of the female subjects showed marked similarity to comparative male data, even though the males were almost twice as strong as the females; (c) the six between-hand contrasts by levels of strength showed right and left fatigue pattern similarity with only one exception. It was concluded that the data strengthened the argument that an overall or composite pattern curve will seldom represent the actual fatigue patterns exhibited by all the subjects in the sample.