Decrement and Recovery with Repetitive Maximal Muscular Exertions

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Abstract
Sixty subjects exerted ten successive maximum pulls of 12 1/2 sec. duration on an isometric dynamometer handle. All trials in a series were separated by a constant duration intertrial interval of 12 1/2, 25, 50, 100, or 200 sec. For all intertrial intervals there was a rapid initial reduction in output followed by an essentially linear decline. The effect of the intertrial intervals on the within-trial decrements were quite small with a difference of less than 2% of maximum between the means for the shortest and longest intervals. For the longer rest conditions there was a reduction in the within-trial decrement over trials. For the shorter intertrial intervals, recovery tended to increase with successive rests, but for the longer intervals there was a tendency for recovery to decrease with repeated rests. The amount of strength recovery with rest was found to be influenced not only by the length of rest but also by the degree to which the response was degraded by prior performance.