Electromyography in Cycling: A Comparative Study of Muscle Fatigue in Hooks, Drops and Levers Position

Analysis of different types of fatigue present in 4 pairs of left and right muscles when 2 different cyclists, one professional and one amateur, have 3 different hand placements on the bar during a sprint movement: hoods, drops and hooks position. The research has been done by using an existing code which has been modified in order to satisfy the requirements of this study. The fatigue indexes that will be used are the root mean squared and the mean frequency of the EMG signal as well as the Dimitrov index. After a 10 minutes warm up the two subjects were asked to perform 10 minutes cycling sessions at 180 Watts for each of the three positions. Subject one showed struggle with the GAL muscles on the hoods and levers position, while subject two experienced clear fatigue on the RF and BF muscles on both the hooks and drops position.