Muscle synergies of untrained subjects during 6 min maximal rowing on slides and fixed ergometer

Shazlin Shaharudin, Damiano Zanotto, Sunil Agrawal

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)793-800
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Sports Science and Medicine
Volume13
Issue number4
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2014

Keywords

  • Muscle synergy
  • Principal component analysis
  • Rowing

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