TY - JOUR
T1 - Muscle synergies of untrained subjects during 6 min maximal rowing on slides and fixed ergometer
AU - Shaharudin, Shazlin
AU - Zanotto, Damiano
AU - Agrawal, Sunil
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©Journal of Sports Science and Medicine.
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - The slides ergometer (SE) was an improvisation from fixed ergometer (FE) to bridge the gap of mechanics between ergometer rowing and on-water rowing. The specific mechanical constraints of these two types of ergometers may affect the pattern of muscle recruitment, coordination and adaptation. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the muscle synergy during 6 minutes maximal rowing on slides (SE) and fixed ergometers (FE). The laterality of muscle synergy was also examined. Surface electromyography activity, power output, heart rate, stroke length and stroke rate were analyzed from nine physically active subjects to assess the rowing performance. Physically active subjects, who were not specifically trained in rowing, were chosen to exclude the training effect on muscle synergy. Principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was applied to extract muscle synergy. Three muscle synergies were sufficient to explain the majority of variance in SE (94.4 ± 2.2%) and FE (92.8 ± 1.7%). Subjects covered more rowing distance, exerted greater power output and attained higher maximal heart rate during rowing on SE than on FE. The results proved the flexibility of muscle synergy to adapt to the mechanical constraints. Rowing on SE emphasized on bi-articular muscles contrary to rowing on FE which relied on cumulative effect of trunk and upper limb muscles during propulsive phase.
AB - The slides ergometer (SE) was an improvisation from fixed ergometer (FE) to bridge the gap of mechanics between ergometer rowing and on-water rowing. The specific mechanical constraints of these two types of ergometers may affect the pattern of muscle recruitment, coordination and adaptation. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the muscle synergy during 6 minutes maximal rowing on slides (SE) and fixed ergometers (FE). The laterality of muscle synergy was also examined. Surface electromyography activity, power output, heart rate, stroke length and stroke rate were analyzed from nine physically active subjects to assess the rowing performance. Physically active subjects, who were not specifically trained in rowing, were chosen to exclude the training effect on muscle synergy. Principal component analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation was applied to extract muscle synergy. Three muscle synergies were sufficient to explain the majority of variance in SE (94.4 ± 2.2%) and FE (92.8 ± 1.7%). Subjects covered more rowing distance, exerted greater power output and attained higher maximal heart rate during rowing on SE than on FE. The results proved the flexibility of muscle synergy to adapt to the mechanical constraints. Rowing on SE emphasized on bi-articular muscles contrary to rowing on FE which relied on cumulative effect of trunk and upper limb muscles during propulsive phase.
KW - Muscle synergy
KW - Principal component analysis
KW - Rowing
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M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84908621763
VL - 13
SP - 793
EP - 800
JO - Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
JF - Journal of Sports Science and Medicine
IS - 4
ER -