Fatigue-induced dissociation between rate of force development and maximal force across repeated rapid contractions

•We used repeated explosive contractions to measure fatigue after a half-marathon.•Fatigue equally affected rapid and maximal force when measured on single attempt.•When measured across repeated contractions, fatigue impaired more the rapid force.

We examined whether the presence of fatigue induced by prolonged running influenced the time courses of force generating capacities throughout a series of intermittent rapid contractions. Thirteen male amateur runners performed a set of 15 intermittent isometric rapid contractions of the knee extensor muscles, (3 s/5 s on/off) the day before (PRE) and immediately after (POST) a half marathon. The maximal voluntary contraction force, rate of force development (RFDpeak), and their ratio (relative RFDpeak) were calculated. At POST, considering the first (out of 15) repetition, the maximal force and RFDpeak decreased (p < 0.0001) at the same extent (by 22 ± 6% and 24 ± 22%, respectively), resulting in unchanged relative RFDpeak (p = 0.6). Conversely, the decline of RFDpeak throughout the repetitions was more pronounced at POST (p = 0.02), thus the decline of relative RFDpeak was more pronounced (p = 0.007) at POST (−25 ± 13%) than at PRE (−3 ± 13%). The main finding of this study was that the fatigue induced by a half-marathon caused a more pronounced impairment of rapid compared to maximal force in the subsequent intermittent protocol. Thus, the fatigue-induced impairment in rapid muscle contractions may have a greater effect on repeated, rather than on single, attempts of maximal force production.