Sprinters motor signature does not

change with fatigue

Mohamed-Amine Choukou, Guillaume

Laffaye & Anne-Marie Heugas-De
Panafieu

European Journal of Applied

Physiology

ISSN 1439-6319

Eur J Appl Physiol

DOI 10.1007/s00421-011-2107-9

1 23
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 Author's personal copy
Eur J Appl Physiol
DOI 10.1007/s00421-011-2107-9

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Sprinters motor signature does not change with fatigue

Mohamed-Amine Choukou Guillaume Laffaye

Anne-Marie Heugas-De Panafieu

Received: 11 April 2011 / Accepted: 28 July 2011

Springer-Verlag 2011

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate human PCA revealed three different sprint profiles explaining 88.2%
adaptations to fatigue induced by track sprint repetitions. of the total variance: the contact-time-pattern (39.46%),
Eight male sprinters were asked to run 4 9 100 m as quickly force-pattern (27.96%) and stride-pattern (20.77%). Two
as possible with 3 min of recovery. Subjects were filmed different motor signatures were identified with fatigue. In the
(50 Hz) in order to measure stride length and frequency. first, athletes switch from the key variable to another when
Velocity was measured by means of radar (250 Hz) while exhausted without changing their motor behavior (during
contact and flight times were registered wirelessly by two Repetition 3 and/or Repetition 4). In the second, athletes do
pressure sensors (400 Hz) embedded under the insole of the not change their motor behavior with fatigue.
subjects shoes. Contact and flight times were used to calcu-
late stiffness. In addition, blood samples were taken prior to Keywords Spring mass model  100 m  Exhaustion 
warm-up, 1 min after each 100-m sprint and every 2 min after Running  Field conditions
the last repetition until a lactate peak ([BLa]) was reached.
[BLa] did not affect mechanical and stride parameters. Inter- List of symbols
series ANOVA showed that velocity decreased significantly
Mechanical parameters
(-3.55%) between Repetition 1 (8.18 0.29 m s-1) and
CT Ground contact time (ms)
Repetition 4 (7.89 0.42 m s-1), while [BLa] increased
FT Flight time (ms)
from 6.74 1.15 to 13.58 1.48 mmol l-1 (p \ 0.05). The
V Velocity of the centre of mass (m s-1)
first main result was that leg stiffness remained constant until
Fmax Maximum leg force (kN)
Repetition 3 and then dramatically increased at Repetition 4,
DCoM Vertical displacement of the centre of mass (m)
whereas vertical stiffness remained constant throughout all
L Leg length at standing position
four repetitions. This behavior could be considered to be a
DL Shortening of the leg (m)
neuromuscular adaptation to fatigue used by skilled athletes.
kleg Leg stiffness (kN m-1)
The second main result was that velocity decreased during the
kvert Vertical stiffness (kN m-1)
second phase (3080 m) of the entire 100 m. In addition, a
CoM Body centre of mass

Communicated by Toshio Moritani. Stride parameters

SF Stride frequency (Hz)
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this
article (doi:10.1007/s00421-011-2107-9) contains supplementary SL Stride length (m)
material, which is available to authorized users.
Metabolic parameter
M.-A. Choukou (&)  G. Laffaye  [BLa] Blood lactate rate (mmol l-1)
A.-M. Heugas-De Panafieu
UR CIAMS, Motor Control and Perception Group, Other abbreviations
Sport Sciences Department, Universite de Paris Sud,
Batiment 335, Bureau 38, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France SMM Spring mass model
e-mail: mohamed-amine.choukou@u-psud.fr SSC Stretch shortening cycle

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CNS Central nervous system
PCA Principal component analysis
Introduction
Although fatigue during the 100-m sprint has been widely
investigated from a physiological point of view (Hirvonen
et al. 1987; Nummela et al. 1992; Hautier et al. 1994; Bret
et al. 2001), its mechanical causes are incompletely under-
stood. The 100-m sprint requires maximum energy produc-
tion in just a few seconds. Metabolic energy is provided
mainly by anaerobic glycolysis and the phosphocreatine
metabolisms in skeletal muscle cells because of inadequate
oxygen supply to the mitochondria. Anaerobic glycolysis has
been reported to contribute greatly to metabolic energy
production during the running of a 100-m sprint: 55%
(Hautier et al. 1994) 57% (Hirvonen et al. 1987), and 76.2%
(Bret et al. 2001). The latter can be assessed in field condi-
tions by measuring post-exercise blood lactate rates. Some
investigators have noted that [BLa] is correlated to 100-m
performance (Bret et al. 2001) unlike previous researchers
for whom the two parameters are independent (Nummela
et al. 1992; Hautier et al. 1994). This proves that energy yield
varies according to the training level. The latter reflects
muscular efficiency, i.e. metabolic energy use and elastic
energy restitution during the stretch shortening cycle (SSC).
This is why it would be useful to divide the 100 m into parts
in order to better understand whether metabolic energy
depletion affects mechanical behavior during running.
The 100 m is commonly divided into three parts:
acceleration, speed maintenance and deceleration. The first
phase requires high mechanical power so as to overcome
inertia during the first steps and to increase forward
acceleration until approximately 30 m (Mero et al. 1992;
Chelly and Denis 2001). Sprinters maintain maximal speed
up to 60 m by storing and restituting elastic energy within
the musculo-tendinous structure of their lower limbs,
respectively, during the eccentric and concentric phases of
the SSC (Blickhan 1989; McMahon et al. 1987; McMahon
and Cheng 1990). However, anaerobic glycolysis is unable
to produce great energy thereafter. This is why a deceler-
ation phase is observed at the end of the 100 m. During this
phase, stride frequency decreases conversely to stride
length, which increases (Mero et al. 1992). It has been
reported that the depletion of speed in experts was linked to
the decrease in vertical stiffness during the 100-m sprint,
but no mechanical parameters were linked to performance
during this phase (Morin and Belli 2003).
Running has been considered a bouncing gait in which the
lower limbs behave as a linear spring during each stance
phase. Thus, the leg-spring loaded by the entire body mass
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Eur J Appl Physiol
constitutes the spring-mass model (SMM). In the literature,
the SMM is commonly used to assess both leg (kleg in
kN m-1) and vertical stiffness (kvert in kN m-1). The latter
makes it possible to model the vertical motions of the CoM
during the stance phase (Blickhan 1989; McMahon and Cheng
1990; Alexander 1992; Farley and Gonzalez 1996). However,
there are some discrepancies in the literature about the pos-
sible link between performance and leg stiffness. The latter
has been shown to be correlated with 100-m performance
during official national events (Bret et al. 2001). On the con-
trary, the mechanical parameters of novices, including leg
stiffness, remain constant throughout the 100 m regardless of
velocity (Morin and Belli 2003; Morin et al. 2006).
From a metabolic point of view, there are some plausible
explanations for fatigue with the decrease in ATP, phospho-
creatine and glycogen, and a decrease in blood pH due to an
increase of protons H? (Cheetham et al. 1986). This was
challenged by Pedersen et al. (2004), who conducted experi-
ments on isolated muscles and suggested that acidosis has little
detrimental effect, or may even improve muscle performance
during high-intensity exercise. To reconcile these findings, it is
hypothesized that severe plasma acidosis in humans might
impair exercise performance by causing reduced nervous flow
to the muscles (Gibson and Noakes 2003).
The biomechanical explanations for fatigue during run-
ning also remain unclear. There are actually few investiga-
tions on the effect of fatigue on mechanical stiffness during
the 100-m sprint in real conditions. For instance, Bret et al.
(2002) demonstrated the contribution of leg stiffness in
maintaining speed over 100 m, but the way it was regulated
throughout the sprint was unknown. To our knowledge,
Morin et al. (2006) are the only researchers to study the
change in SMM characteristics with fatigue induced by
sprint repetition in novices. Their main results show that leg
stiffness remains constant throughout the 100 m and
throughout repetitions. Fatigue did not influence kleg
directly, but altered some of the stride and SMM parameters
such as step frequency, which decreased, and the vertical
motions of the CoM, which increased.
The purposes of this study were (1) to identify whether
blood lactate concentrations affect sprint performance, (2)
to determine leg stiffness changes with sprint repetition and
in the 100-m phases in field conditions in skilled sprinters,
and (3) to determine sprint motor pattern behavior as a
function of fatigue induced by four all-out 100-m sprints.
Methods
Participants
Eight skilled male sprinters, competing at the regional
level of the French track-and-field championships
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Eur J Appl Physiol
(11.54 0.37 s in the 100 m), exhibiting no injuries to the
lower limbs, participated in this study. Their physical char-
acteristics were age 19 2 years, body mass 72.88 5.78
kg, height 1.80 0.07 m and leg length 0.93 0.04 m.
Subjects were instructed to continue their normal diets
throughout the testing procedures and were advised to refrain
from caffeine and alcohol during the day preceding testing.
Each volunteer signed a written informed consent statement
after receiving verbal and written descriptions of the proce-
dures which had been approved by the Ethics Committee of
the University of Paris-Sud and was informed of the risks and
benefits of participating in this study.
Protocol
After performing a standardized warm-up, participants were
instructed to run as quickly as possible for four repetitions of a
100-m sprint (R1, R2, R3 and R4) on a tartan track.
The repetitions were separated by 3-min recovery periods
during which the runners returned to the start of the sprint
course. The experiment was conducted on an outdoor track
from a standing position so that the sprinters were in a real
context similar to their training sessions. The athletes wore
their own spiked shoes, their usual uniform, and the devices
described below. They confirmed that none of acquisition
systems disturbed their movements or sensations.
Materials and data collection
Instantaneous forward velocity (V) was measured by means
of radar (Stalker ATS, Applied Concepts, Inc, Texas, USA)
Fig. 1 Experimental protocol
4 * 100 m sprint (3 mn of recovery)
Instruction : run as fast as possible
Blood Lactate
Portable
analyser
first phase
installed 3 m behind the runners and calibrated at a fre-
quency of 250 Hz. Raw speed data were filtered (by a four-
order zero-lag Butterworth filter) using ATS SystemTM
acquisition software. This device was placed on a tripod 3 m
behind the sprinter at a height of 1 m, which corresponded
approximately to the mean height of the CoM. Contact and
flight times were measured using two pressure sensors (fre-
quency 250 Hz) embedded under the insoles of the shoes
(Locotest, Techno-concept, France) connected to modules
(right ? left) that were tied to the top of the corresponding
shoe. Each sensor was affixed between the insole and the
middle of the forefoot. The entire device was attached to the
participant and connected to the experimenters laptop via
Bluetooth (see Fig. 1). Figure 1 illustrates the locations of
the devices and protocol organization.
A variety of devices were used to measure comple-
mentary stride parameters (frequency and amplitude). The
trials were taped (SONY, Sony Electronics Inc., Paris,
France) at a frequency of 50 Hz. The camcorder was
positioned 7 m beside the middle of the 100-m lane. Stride
length (SL in m), which is useful for calculating step fre-
quency (SF in Hz), was measured only by video analyses.
SL corresponded to the distance separating the initial
ground contact point of a given foot up to the contact point
of the opposite foot. SF was calculated as the opposite of
the time of a running cycle, i.e. the sum of contact and
flight times (Eq. 1):
1 1
SF 1
T CT + FT
In addition, blood lactate concentrations were measured
by means of a portable lactate analyzer (Lactate ProTM).
30m 60m 80m
second phase third phase
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Blood samples were taken at rest ([BLa0]), 1 min after each
100 m ([BLax]) during the recovery period and every
2 min after R4 until a peak of [BLa] was reached. The
[BLa0] was considered a reference value so that blood
lactate rate could be estimated as the difference between
each [BLax] and the rest value (Eq. 2):
DBLa BLax   BLa0  2 were altered within each 100-m sprint and throughout the
Leg and vertical stiffness calculation method
Leg and vertical stiffness were calculated using the sine-wave
method elaborated by Morin et al. (2005) (Eq. 3). According
to this method, the F(t) curve can be modeled as a sinus
function Y t A  sin xt U, where Fmax represents
the amplitude of the wave (A in the function), (P/CT) the
angular frequency (x), and the phase U is equal to zero.
In this study, we considered that CoM movements were
symmetric between 30 and 100 m. Thus, the sine-wave
method could be applied over this distance, considering the
velocity loss at the end of 100 m as negligible:
 
P
F t Fmax  sin t 3
CT
Considering that maximal vertical force (Fmax) reaches
its maximal value when the CoM is low (McMahon and
Cheng 1990), kvert was calculated (Eq. 4) as the ratio of
Fmax (Eq. 5) to the maximal downward displacement of the
CoM during contact (DCoM in m) (Eq. 6) (Farley and
Gonzalez 1996):
kvert Fmax  D1
CoM
with
 
P FT
Fmax m  g   1
2 CT
Fmax CT2 CT2
DCoM   2 g
m P 8 030, 3080 and 80100 m (Delecluse et al. 1995; Chelly
Leg stiffness was calculated (Eq. 7) as the ratio of Fmax
to leg-spring peak displacement (DL) during contact (Eq. 8)
(McMahon and Cheng 1990):
kleg Fmax  DL 1
met. Tests of normality of distribution and skewness
(ShapiroWilk test) revealed no abnormal data pattern with
p-values ranging between 0.07 and 0.97. ANOVA with
Fishers post-hoc test were performed for the four repeti-
tions and the three 100-m phases. This allowed us to
observe whether the SMM properties and stride parameters
repetitions. In addition, a Pearsons correlation test was
used to determine whether correlations between blood
lactate, performance, and mechanical parameters of the
four repetitions exist. The statistical significance level was
set at p \ 0.05. Additionally, PCA was performed on the
data obtained from the 32 sprints (8 subjects 9 4 sprints)
in order to identify the principal components summarizing
the nine independent variables (SL, SF, CT, FT, Fmax,
DCoM, DL, kleg and kvert). The PCA was obtained from the
STATISTICA package (version 5.5) using the procedure
described by Kollias et al. (2001). The number of principal
components in the pattern matrix extracted by the PCA was
chosen with an eigenvalue greater than 1. The original
matrix was rotated to extract the appropriate variables,
using a normalized VARIMAX rotation (orthogonal rota-
tion). This rotation allowed an earlier labeling of the
principal components. In order to characterize running
profiles, individual repetitions were plotted in two planes
containing the three principal components. Figure 2 illus-
trates a first plane with the first (first PC) and second
(second PC) components, while Fig. 3 shows a second
plane with the first PC and the third (third PC) component
(see Figs. 2, 3).
4
Results
5 Results of each parameter were compared in the three
100-m phases and in the four repetitions. In accordance
with the literature, each 100 m was divided into three parts:
6
and Denis 2001; Morin and Belli 2003).
Relationship between blood lactates and sprint
7 performance

with The subjects ran R1 in 12.43 0.55 s, representing 92.84%

v
u
u  2 ! of their personal best over 100 m. The velocity decreased
t V  CT significantly [F(3, 21) = 4.03; p \ 0.05] by 3.55% from
DL L  L2  DCoM 8
2 R1 (8.18 0.29 m s-1) to R4 (7.89 0.42 m s-1). As
hypothesized, blood lactate concentrations increased sig-
Statistical analysis nificantly from 6.74 1.15 mmol l-1 1 min after R1, to
13.58 1.48 mmol l-1 1 min after R4 [F(3, 21) = 35.37;
All descriptive statistics were used to verify whether the p \ 0.05]. A peak of 14.76 mmol l-1 was reached 2 min
basic assumption of normality of all studied variables was after R4. The blood lactate rate was correlated (r = 0.83;

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Fig. 2 Individual scores for each subject and each repetition of
sprint on the 1st and 2nd principal components. The first principal
component represents the individual scores on the CT-component and
the second principal component represents the individual scores on
the force-component. Each sprinter corresponds to a symbol associ-
ated with a letter and numbered from 1 to 4. The number corresponds
to the row of the sprint repetition
Fig. 3 Individual scores for each subject and each repetition of sprint
on the 1st and 2nd principal components. The first principal
component represents the individual scores on the CT-component
and the third principal component represents the individual scores on
the stride-component. Each sprinter corresponds to a symbol associ-
ated with a letter and numbered from 1 to 4. The number corresponds
to the row of the sprint repetition
p \ 0.05) to velocity only during R3 (12.04 mmol l-1)
(Table 1).
Changes in mechanical parameters under the fatigue
condition
Force averaged 2.68 0.26 kN and did not vary signifi-
cantly with sprint repetition [F(3, 21) \ 1]. Mean kleg
was 21.28 3.62 kN m-1. Contrary to expectations, leg
stiffness increased significantly by 19.68% with repetition
[F(3, 21) = 4.27; p \ 0.05], whereas kvert remained con-
stant. The post-hoc test revealed that leg stiffness remained
constant between R1 (20.92 4.66 kN m-1) and R3
(19.56 3.1 kN m-1), and increased dramatically at R4
(25.03 2.21 kN m-1). The imposed exhaustion did not
alter vertical stiffness [F(3, 21) \ 1], which varied from
74.64 7.7 kN m-1 during R1 to 72.12 5 kN m-1
during R4, representing only 3.38% of the decrease.
Stride parameters and fatigue
Mean contact time was 125 s and mean flight time was 169 s.
Both parameters remained constant throughout the four
repetitions [F(3, 21) \ 1]. Vertical leg displacement also
remained constant [F(3, 21) \ 1] in spite of fatigue
(17.24 2 cm), which was not the case for stride frequency
(3.89 0.25 Hz) and stride length (2.07 0.13 m). SF did
not change significantly between R1 (3.99 0.25 Hz) and
R4 (3.90 0.26 Hz) (-2.07%) [F(3, 21) \ 1]. Similarly,
stride length did not decrease significantly (-1.63%)
between R1 (2.06 0.14 m) and R4 (2.03 0.12 m) [F(3,
21) \ 1] (Table 1).
SMM behavior during the three phases of the 100 m
None of the SMM properties varied during the acceleration
phase, i.e. between 0 and 30 m [F(3, 21) \ 1]. The only
change observed during the second phase (3080 m) of all
sprints concerned velocity, which decreased significantly
[F(3, 21) = 6.53; p \ 0.05] from 9.06 m s-1 during R1 to
8.60 m s-1 during R4. The change of velocity was corre-
lated with stride length during the second phase (r = 0.80;
p \ 0.05). However, velocity stopped decreasing at the end
of the sprints (8.438.81 m s-1), i.e. between 80 and
100 m. During this deceleration phase, none of the stride
parameters (SF, SL, CT, FT, DL, DCoM) was altered with
repetition [F(3, 21) \ 1]. Leg and vertical stiffness also
remained constant [F(3, 21) \ 1].
Principal component analysis
The PCA revealed three principal components accounting
for 88.2% of total variance and including all the studied
variables (Table 2).
The first PC (Table 2), which was rotated, accounted for
39.46% of variance with an eigenvalue of 3.64. As shown
in Table 2, this CT-component was highly loaded with the
following parameters: negative values of kleg (-0.861) and
kvert (-0.852) explained that they are negatively related to
DL (0.963) and CT (0.867). This first PC assumes that an
increase in leg and vertical stiffness is obviously linked to a
decrease in the CT and leg lowering.
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Table 1 Blood lactate rates, stride and mechanical parameters [mean (SD)] during the four repetitions of 100 m
R1 R2 R3 R4 ANOVA % change

V100 (m s-1) 8.18 (0.29) 8.12 (0.27) 8.03 (0.32) 7.89 (0.42) (14, 24)* -3.55
SL (m) 2.06 (0.14) 2.13 (0.12) 2.09 (0.15) 2.03 (0.12) (12, 24)* -1.63
SF (Hz) 3.99 (0.25) 3.83 (0.23) 3.87 (0.29) 3.90 (0.26) (12, 13)* -2.07
CT (ms) 122.91 (5.7) 126.96 (6.4) 129.02 (5.1) 125.03 (3.7) ns 1.72
FT (ms) 168.5 (12.2) 171.61 (9.8) 163.9 (17) 174.53 (10.5) ns 3.58
Fmax (kN) 2.70 (0.22) 2.69 (0.28) 2.59 (0.28) 2.73 (0.32) ns 1.07
DCoM (cm) 3.74 (0.3) 3.94 (0.2) 3.86 (0.4) 3.93 (0.2) ns 5.06
DL (cm) 17.21 (2.4) 17.91 (2.4) 17.9 (2.2) 15.9 (0.9) ns -7.26
Kleg (kN m-1) 20.92 (4.66) 19.64 (4.53) 19.56 (3.10) 25.03 (2.21) (14, 24, 34)* 19.64
-1
Kvert (kN m ) 74.64 (7.7) 69.26 (7.35) 68.61 (7.5) 72.12 (5) ns -3.38
[BLa] (mmol l-1) 6.74 (1.15) 10.60 (1.82) 12.04 (2.24) 13.58 (1.48) (12, 13, 14, 24, 34)* 101.48
(% change) corresponds to the percentage of variation of parameters between R1 and R4 for all subjects
ns non-significant
* (serie-serie) significantly different from the other repetitions (p \ 0.05) with Fishers post hoc test

Table 2 Results of the PCA

Variables Factor loadings Commonalities
showing for each variable factor
loading and commonalities as F1 F2 F3
well as eigenvalue and
percentage of variance for each SL -0.856 0.905
rotated principal component SF 0.966 0.908
CT 0.867 0.800
DL 0.963 0.868
kleg -0.861 0.705
kvert -0.852 0.808
FT -0.955 0.737
Dyc 0.840 0.878
Fmax -0.778 0.847
Eigenvalue 3.64 3.27 1.09
% variance 39.46 27.96 20.77

The second PC (see Table 2) explained 27.96% of the
variance and its eigenvalue was about 3.27. This compo-
nent was positively loaded by DCoM (0.840) and negatively
loaded by Fmax (-0.778) and FT (-0.955) as shown in
Table 2. The Force-component showed a relationship
between force production and stride characteristics. The
decrease in CoM displacement is linked to the decrease in
Fmax and in FT.
The third PC (see Table 2) explained 20.77% of the
variance with an eigenvalue of 1.09. It was highly loaded
by SF (0.966) and SL (-0.856). This stride-component
showed a link between stride length and frequency. This
means that athletes who increase stride frequency simul-
taneously decrease stride length.
In order to understand the link between components, the
factor scores of each participant for the three dimensions
were recorded and used as independent variables after data
normalization to change negative factor loadings to
positive. Then, we used a step-by-step multiple regression
analysis (Foucart 1999; Dompnier et al. 2007), entering the
individual factor scores on the three components as inde-
pendent variables and mean velocity as dependent vari-
ables. In order to understand the effect of fatigue, we
divided the data into two groups: the first includes the
velocity of R1 and R2, and the second the velocity of R3
and R4. The equations found for series 1 (R1R2) and 2
(R3R4) are reported in (Eq. 9) and (Eq. 10), respectively
(see Eqs. 9, 10):
VR1R2 0:22 F1 0:422 F2 0:031 F3
 
8:1 with r 2 0:26; p 0:3 9
VR3R4 0:06 F1 0:099 F2 0:590 F3
 
7:8 with r 2 0:37; p 0:2 10
These equations allowed us first to understand the
connection between the three components. The contact time

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component (F1) is negatively linked to the other two,
explaining that the force and stride components increase
when the contact time component decreases. Second, the
relative contribution of each component in both equations for
R1 and R4 is different. Only the signs of the three components
do not change, showing the same relationship between
components independently of fatigue. Without fatigue, the
great contributor is the force pattern (56%), which then
switches to stride pattern with fatigue, which contributes 50%
of total variability. This shows that a high level of vertical
force is a major factor of velocity, confirming the recent study
of Morin et al. (2011). With fatigue, the sprinter is unable to
produce a high level of force but is better able to regulate the
stride component, i.e. stride length and stride frequency.
Plotting the mean individual scores on the three PCs, as
shown in Figs. 2 and 3, we understand the effect of
exhaustion on different individual patterns (see Figs. 2, 3).
The horizontal axis of Fig. 2 corresponds to the first PC,
namely the CT component. Sprinting performance with a
positive high level on the first PC would demonstrate high
values for CT, DL, and low values for kleg and kvert. This
pattern was employed by athletes A and G oriented linked to the availability of high-energy phosphate. The
to stiffness with negatives component scores ranging from
-2.97 to -0.79 and C and D who relied rather on incomplete recoveries between successive sprints creating
contact time and leg lowering reducing with positive scores
(0.143.94) on the first PC.
The vertical axis of Fig. 2 indicates the second PC, which
was characterized as the force-component. A positive high
level on this second PC indicates a high value of DCoM and
low values of strength and flight time. This pattern consists in
strength use in order to increase flight time and decrease
CoM vertical displacement. The component scores ranged
from -0.7 to -3.7 corresponding to subjects F and H. phosphate availability combined with the continued
Sprinters B and E showed neither first nor second PC, attempt to generate maximum power should stimulate
i.e. a neutral pattern consisting of a third PC, namely the
stride-component represented by the vertical axis of Fig. 3
with component scores ranging from -0.24 to 1.58 (see
Fig. 3). Running with a positive value on this component
would show high values for SF and low values for SL.
Discussion
The main purposes of this study were to determine (1) the effect
of metabolic fatigue on sprint mechanical parameters, (2) the
role of lower limb stiffness in maintaining speed, and (3) the
behavior of mechanical and stride parameters throughout sprint
repetitions and in the three phases of the 100 m.
Blood lactates and sprint repetition
The first aim of this study was to identify possible rela-
tionships between blood lactate concentrations and
mechanical parameters of sprint. The results of this study
showed that [BLa] increased gradually and significantly
(p \ 0.05) from 6.74 mmol l-1 after R1 to 13.58 mmol l-1
after R4. [BLa] values are close to values reported during a
100-m sprint of a national competition (12.5 mmol l-1
(Bret et al. 2001), and 8.5 mmol l-1 (Hautier et al. 1994)),
except after R1. This could be due to the shortness of the
time (1 min) between blood sampling and the end of R1.
This time period was probably insufficient to allow lactic
acid to be buffered and transported from the skeletal
muscles to the blood.
Blood lactate rates affected neither the 100-m mechan-
ical parameters (CT, FT, Fmax, DCoM, DL, kleg, kvert), nor the
stride parameters (SL, SF), and thus cannot explain the
causes of the decrease in velocity with repetition. Hirvonen
et al. (1987) reported that performance in short supra-
maximal exercise depends primarily on the ability to use
high-energy phosphate stores, and secondarily most of the
energy must then be produced by glycolysis. So, the
decline in running velocity is not related to metabolic
acidosis via lactate accumulation, but could rather be
3 min of passive recoveries used in this study allowed
a fatigue state and hence a decrease in performance
(Bogdanis et al. 1995; McCartney et al. 1986). Although
trained sprinters are able to deplete and resynthesize high-
energy phosphate stores more effectively than untrained
sprint participants, the recovery periods were likely inad-
equate for creatine phosphate to recover fully and hence to
maintain a high level of velocity (Bogdanis et al. 1995;
Rehunen et al. 1982). Furthermore, the decrease in creatine
glycolysis and lead to the increase of [BLa] throughout the
four 100-m sprints.
As suggested by Cairns (2006), lactic acid, which is
considered a major cause of skeletal muscle fatigue (i.e.
decline of muscle force or power output leading to
impaired exercise performance), is questionable especially
if accompanied by a high capacity for lactate removal as is
expected in trained sprinters. Other ions such as pyruvate,
phosphate and citrate ions could cause post-exercise aci-
dosis (Cairns 2006). In the case of runners who rely on
Fmax as a regulator of flight time or of CoM vertical dis-
placement, we could deduce that an increase in lactate
concentrations related to high levels of metabolic acidosis
would alter mechanical output by decreasing muscular
contraction rates (Nummela et al. 1992). Our unexpected
findings contradicted this hypothesis since there was no
significant decrease in Fmax even though velocities
decreased. So, the depletion of phosphocreatine stores
cannot be considered as the sole determinant of muscle
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fatigue. The mechanism involved in force production could
be another (Boyas and Guevel 2011). In addition, other
studies showed that causes of fatigue are more likely to be
neuromuscular (Pedersen et al. 2004; Cairns 2006). Indeed,
different cases of adaptations to fatigue were observed in
our participants. The CNS seems to be constrained to adapt
the running pattern during each repetition. One of our
major results is that the three running profiles remained the
same during the four 100 m. That will be discussed further
in the last chapter.
The major role of leg stiffness in maintaining speed
Our second purpose was to determine changes in lower
limb stiffness with repetitions of 100 m at maximum speed.
Velocity decreased by 3.55% between R1 (8.18 m s-1) and
R4 (7.89 m s-1) (Table 1). These results agree with the
literature for R1 (Bret et al. 2001; Morin et al. 2006) and
correspond to performances of trained athletes. The
decrease in velocity of our participants was lower than the
decrease in velocity observed in novices (11.6%) during
similar conditions (Morin et al. 2006). This difference
could be explained by training status. In other words,
skilled sprinters get tired less easily than novices during
such exercise. The literature regarding the link between leg
stiffness and running sprint velocity is still contradictory.
For instance, Arampatzis et al. (1999) demonstrated
that leg-spring stiffness influences running velocity dur-
ing running over a force plate at different speeds
(2.56.5 m s-1). This was not the case for Farley et al.
(1993), who indicated that leg stiffness was almost constant
with increasing running velocity in animals. The explana-
tion of sprint performance with leg stiffness as a major
parameter of the SMM seems incomplete. This is why an
observation of the variation of both of the other SMM
parameters and stride parameters is required.
The participants of this study showed no alteration
(-2.07%) in stride frequency between R1 and R4, compared
with novices (-8.03%) (Morin et al. 2006). It has been
shown (Morin et al. 2007) that stride frequency indirectly
affects SMM properties through its effect on contact time.
Moreover, Farley and Gonzalez (1996) suggested that
performing high step frequencies requires a high leg stiff-
ness level. In this study, the participants maintained their
contact time almost constant (1.72%) between R1 and R4,
while the novices contact time increased significantly
(?14.7%) (Morin et al. 2006). Based on these consider-
ations, the skilled sprinters were able to maintain nearly the
same CT throughout the repetitions by minimizing the
decrease in SF.
The kleg values ranged from 20.92 kN m-1 during R1 to
25.03 kN m-1 during R4. Leg stiffness values were higher
than that of the results of previous studies in similar
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Eur J Appl Physiol
conditions (17.119.5 kN m-1) (Morin et al. 2006). This
difference can be explained by higher values of mean Fmax
in skilled sprinters (2.67 kN) compared with novices
(2.28 kN) (Morin et al. 2006). The high level of leg stiff-
ness observed in this study agrees with the findings of
Farley and Gonzalez (1996) and Morin et al. (2007). The
authors considered leg stiffness as a major determinant of
SSC behavior. Indeed, in our study, CT, DCoM and kvert
values declined dramatically with fatigue in novices
(Morin et al. 2007), whereas these parameters remained
unchanged for skilled athletes. For many authors (Farley
and Gonzalez 1996; Morin et al. 2007; Laffaye et al. 2005),
shortening CT values or increasing SF values are a good
way to maintain high stiffness values. This study clearly
shows that stride frequency decreased until R3 whereas
CT, FT, Fmax, DCoM, DL and kvert remained unchanged,
making it possible to maintain high stiffness values. This
was not the case in novices, whose CT, DCoM and kvert were
affected greatly by fatigue (Morin et al. 2006).
Does fatigue alter the sprinters motor signature?
The third aim of this study was to determine the organi-
zation of mechanical and stride parameters throughout
sprint repetitions and in the phases of the 100 m.
A main result of this study showed that no change was
observed during the first and the last phase of the 100 m as
hypothesized (p \ 0.05). The only significant result was a
decrease in velocity at the end of the second phase
(-5.07%) (p \ 0.05). The first part of the sprint is more
likely to be an important phase since it requires high leg
power values, i.e. high force and high acceleration, which
are both responsible for stride length and frequency
increase (Chelly and Denis 2001). Nevertheless, the second
phase can be considered as the major part of the 100-m
sprint since the athlete has to maintain the velocity
achieved during the first phase. The results of this study
showed that the decrease in velocity with fatigue occurred
during the second phase of the 100 m.
In this study, there was no change in speed during the
first phase of the four sprints. This means that parameters
producing acceleration are not affected by fatigue induced
by sprint repetition because the sprinter is using more
power in order to lengthen the steps. In other words, the
contractions are longer because the ground contact time
duration is very high between 0 and 30 m. A long CT
seems to be less sensitive to fatigue during this first phase,
contrary to the second phase, which requires shorter CT
and higher SF to be able to run quickly (Nummela et al.
1996). This means that the second phase of the 100 m
requires a high neuromuscular yield. During the decelera-
tion phase, the velocity did not change in the four 100-m
repetitions. Athletes CT did not increase at the end of the
 Author's personal copy
Eur J Appl Physiol
sprint, which could explain the maintenance of a high level
of speed in accordance with Nummela et al. (1996), who
showed a strong link between velocity and CT during the
400-m sprint. So, maintaining short CT seems to be an
efficient motor behavior in order to avoid a decline in
velocity at the end of the 100 m. This strategy is valid in
skilled sprinters since CT and velocity remained constant
in the third phase of the 100 m.
Except for the velocity decrease during the second
phase, we did not notice any changes in either stride or in
SMM parameters in the three phases. This constant state
could be considered as a reorganization of stride parame-
ters in order to adapt to muscular fatigue, namely the
decrease in Fmax. With fatigue, the lower limb attempted to
decrease CoM vertical displacement so as to optimize
vertical stiffness, which remained unchanged with fatigue
while leg stiffness changed only between R3 and R4. These
results are in accordance with the findings of Gibson and
Noakes (2003), showing such an adaptive phenomenon to
fatigue. Thus, leg stiffness could constitute a controlling
variable (Gibson and Noakes 2003) of a pacing strategy,
used by the CNS to reduce the effects of fatigue. We
suppose that the pacing strategies used by our participants
are quite efficient since velocity stopped decreasing during
the third phase of the four 100-m repetitions.
One of the main results of this study was that leg stiff-
ness remained constant until R3 and then, surprisingly,
increased and reached its highest value during R4
(?19.68% of R1) (Table 1). This leg stiffness change
contrasts with Morin et al. 2006) on the same protocol of
sprint repetition in novices, with Hobara et al. (2010) on
the 400-m sprint, and with Rabita et al. (2011) on long-
distance running. In these studies, the decrease in leg
stiffness is linked to a decrease in either vertical force or
stride frequency, or in a maximal downward shift of the
CoM. However, in our study, neither delta DCoM nor Fmax
decreased between repetitions in our participants. By tak-
ing into account these results, it appears that the onset of
fatigue was not mainly metabolic but rather the result of an
interaction between metabolic and an alteration in muscle
contraction (Pedersen et al. 2004; Boyas and Guevel 2011).
Boyas and Guevel (2011) suggested on the one hand that in
order to resist the onset of fatigue during prolonged con-
traction, new motor units are recruited to compensate for
those activated at the start of the contraction. On the other
hand, muscle afferents provide the nervous system with
information about the state of muscles and appear to be
involved in regulating fatiguing exercise. Further investi-
gation is needed to clarify the role of different events
involved in the onset of fatigue during sprinting.
During running, leg stiffness could be considered as a
main cause of possible movement reorganization under the
fatigue condition. The kleg is more likely to substitute for
the sum of joint stiffnesses (i.e. ankle, knee and hip stiff-
ness). In other words, joint stiffness is required for landing
while leg stiffness allows optimum use of the SSC. Thus,
the CNS could guide the runners lower limb as a whole
segment, when exhausted, instead of governing three dif-
ferent segments (thigh, leg and foot) and their corre-
sponding joints. So, the leg properties can be controlled by
regulating its stiffness, as suggested by Forestier and
Nougier (1998) and Rabita et al. (2008). Forestier and
Nougier (1998) reported increased movement rigidity
with fatigue which involved a new motor coordination. The
authors concluded that increasing the stiffness of the upper-
body multi-joint system would simplify movement execu-
tion and control with fatigue. These findings could explain
the unexpected increase in leg stiffness between R3 and R4
explained above. In our study, the neuromuscular regula-
tions of skilled sprinters were probably designed to adapt
leg stiffness according to the fatigue state. However, the
way of running cannot be exclusively explained by leg
stiffness analysis. That is why possible combinations
between SMM and stride parameters during a 100-m sprint
and throughout repetitions were investigated.
The model found by the PCA accounted for 88.2% of
the total variance and the nine studied variables are sum-
marized in three components. This could explain individual
behaviors. Indeed, individual plotting of this PCA reveals
three different patterns which capture all the individual
signatures of the athletes motor behavior during sprint
repetition, independently of their running velocities.
The contact-time component
The first observed pattern was on the first PC of the PCA,
which linked CT and DL throughout sprint repetition so as to
optimize leg and vertical stiffness. Athlete G presented
negative scores for this component over all repetitions. This
means that G relied on high levels of leg (mean value:
17.4 kN m-1) and vertical stiffness (mean value:
73.68 kN m-1), which could contribute to resistance to
fatigue by reducing the duration of contact time (mean value
120 ms). The latter has been reported (Morin et al. 2007) to
be the major determinant of leg-spring behavior in active
athletes not specialized in running. On the contrary, athletes
A, C and D showed opposite motor behaviors. They
were mainly oriented to positive positions over the first PC.
This means that they had long CT (125128 ms), resulting in
lower values of leg (15.516.58 kN m-1) and vertical
(60.9269.49 kN m-1) stiffness than G.
The force component
The second pattern was on the second PC of the PCA and
linked positively to force and flight time and negatively to
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Eur J Appl Physiol

vertical displacement of the CoM (negative values). It
characterized athletes H and F who had negative position on the first PC, corresponding to high CT and DL
scores on the second PC, i.e. they relied on high values of
force [mean value: H (3.06 kN), and F (2.89 kN)] and high leg and vertical stiffness values.
flight time (respectively, 184.7 and 172.5 ms) during run-
ning. The role of Fmax in sprinting has been investigated by
Weyand et al. (2000) who tested the contribution of the
ground reaction force compared with contact time and
stride frequency during treadmill running at different
speeds (311.1 m s-1). The authors indicated that running
quickly essentially implies greater ground force produc-
tion, not greater step frequency or shorter ground contact
duration, which was the case of athletes characterized by a
force pattern.
The stride component
The third individual pattern observed in this study was on
the third PC of the PCA and linked to stride parameters
(stride frequency to stride length) during running. The
negative relationship between these two parameters shows
that an increase in stride frequency involves a decrease in
stride length and vice versa. The stride-oriented athletes
scores (B and E) had positive positions on the third and flight time are not affected by fatigue. Fatigue did not
PC, meaning that they relied on a high level of step fre-
quency [mean value: B (4.04 Hz) and E (4.31 Hz)] and
consequently showed short stride amplitude (mean value:
respectively, 1.99 and 1.98 m). This could demonstrate the
importance of stride frequency compared with stride length
in skilled sprinters.
Individual plotting disclosed not only individual motor
signatures among the three PC explained above but also
demonstrated the evolution of each pattern with fatigue.
Two different behaviors of adaptation to fatigue were
identified by the PCA.
The motor signature is altered with fatigue
The first behavior is a change in the pattern with fatigue
induced by sprint repetition. This phenomenon was
observed in five sprinters (A, B, C, D and E, other two, explaining that when the contact-time component
see Figs. 2, 3) who maintained their running profile, but
changed the key variable of their pattern when exhausted.
In other words, the motor behavior could be affected by
fatigue so that the athlete relies more on different param-
eters than those used in the pre-fatigue state. This change
was characterized in two different manners: changing the
key-variable of the pattern or adopting a neutral position
on the axis.
In the first case, the sprinters are likely to be able to
replace the main parameter of their corresponding pattern
with another when fatigued. That was the behavior of
athletes A and C, whose positions varied on the first the stride component, i.e. stride length and frequency.
PC. For instance, C1, C2 and C3 were in a positive
values. C4 was in a negative position, corresponding to
In the second case, the athlete adopts a neutral position
during R4. This was the case of athletes B (third PC),
D (first PC) and E (third PC). For instance, D1,
D2 and D3 were in positive positions on the first PC,
contrary to the position of D4 which was in a neutral
position. That means that the CT of sprinter D decreased
under fatigue during R4 (Fig. 2).
The motor signature remains unchanged with fatigue
In the second behavior, the characteristics of the pattern
remain unchanged with sprint repetition. In other words,
the athletes were able to maintain their movement orga-
nization regardless of the fatigue state. This was the case of
three athletes (F, G and H). The behavior of H
and F, for instance, remained nearly the same with
repetition of 100-m sprints with negative positions on the
second PC (0.35, -0.96 and 0.06, -0.73 correspondingly),
i.e. with a high level of Fmax and FT. This means that force
alter either the sprinters motor behaviors or their corre-
sponding positions on the PC.
Two different strategies were identified. The first con-
sisted in switching from one key variable to another without
changing motor behavior. In the second strategy, athletes
maintained their motor behavior with fatigue. Both these
strategies appear to be efficient in reducing the effects of
fatigue in skilled sprinters. This confirms that training status
is a determinant of efficiency of the SMM parameters as
previously reported in the literature (Bret et al. 2002; Laffaye
et al. 2005). Indeed, our results show a slight decrease in
velocity (-3.55%) compared with the literature (-11.6%,
Morin et al. (2006)) in novices with a similar protocol.
Additionally, the equations found by multiple regression
analysis allow us to understand the connection between the
three components. The first PC is linked negatively to the
decreases, force and stride increase. Second, the relative
contribution of each component in both equations, for R1 and
R4, is different. Only the signs of the three components do
not change, showing the same relationship between com-
ponents independently of fatigue. Without fatigue, the
greatest contributor is the force pattern (56%); then it
switches to stride pattern with fatigue, contributing 50% of
total variability. This shows that a high level of vertical force
is a major factor of velocity, confirming the recent study of
Morin et al. (2011), but with fatigue, the sprinter is not able to
produce a high level of force but rather seems able to regulate

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Conclusion
The first aim of this study was to discover whether
mechanical parameters could be affected by the blood
lactate concentration in skilled sprinters. The mechanical
parameters are not correlated to blood lactate rates. The
latter are correlated only to performance, i.e. to the
decrease in velocity. The second purpose was to determine
the variation of leg stiffness with sprint repetition and in
the phases of the 100-m sprint. The results show an
increase in leg stiffness between R3 and R4. The mainte-
nance of leg stiffness and its increase with fatigue were
determinant for the maintenance of velocity. Our third goal
was to determine sprint motor pattern behavior as a func-
tion of fatigue induced by four all-out 100-m sprints. The
results revealed three sprinting motor signatures. Indeed,
the PCA shows three components, which explain 88.2% of
total variance and include the nine studied variables: the
contact-time component, the force component and the
stride component.
Adaptations to fatigue are obviously different from one
athlete to another. Our study clearly shows the existence of
three individual running patterns, namely the contact-time
pattern, the force pattern and the stride pattern. Each athlete
was characterized by a sole pattern that could not be replaced
by another under the fatigue induced by sprint repetition.
However, fatigue could constrain some sprinters to replace
the key variable with another in the same pattern. This
substitution is likely to be an efficient way of optimizing leg-
spring behavior and minimizing the effects on running per-
formance of fatigue induced by sprint repetition.
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