Muscle Performance and Metabolism in Maximal Isokinetic Cycling at Slow and Fast Speeds

To provide a description of the metabolic changes in muscle during maximal dynamic exercise, muscle biopsies were obtained in five healthy subjects before and after 30 s of isokinetic exercise at two pedaling frequencies (60 and 140 rpm) associated with contrasting fatigue characteristics. Higher peak power was attained at 140 rpm (1,473 + 185 W) (mean +/- SE) than at 60 rpm (1,122 +/- 70 W), but the decline in power during 30 s (fatigue index) was greater at 140 rpm (61.6 +/- 3.2 vs. 21.5 +/- 2.4%), total work in 30 s being similar (18.1 +/- 1.10 vs. 20.1 +/- 1.10 kJ). Changes in the concentration of muscle metabolites were similar; creatine phosphate concentration fell to approximately 50% of resting values, and the glycolytic intermediates glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 6-phosphate, and fructose 1,6-biphosphate increased up to 30-fold. Muscle lactate concentration ([La-]) was 29.0 +/- 3.98 and 31.0 +/- 4.31 mmol/kg wet wt immediately postexercise at 140 and 60 rpm, respectively. Even after only 10 s exercise (n = 2), large increases were measured in glycolytic intermediates and [La-]. In the two subjects, muscle [La-] increased to 17.2 and 15.1 mmol/kg at 140 rpm and to 14.3 and 14.2 mmol/kg at 60 rpm. In this type of exercise, glycogenolysis is activated very rapidly at both pedal speeds; the changes in glycolytic intermediates were consistent with rate-limiting steps at the phosphofructokinase and pyruvate dehydrogenase reactions. The greater fatigue at the higher speed is not accompanied by different biochemical changes than at 60 rpm.