The Relationship between Integrated EMG and Oxygen Uptake during Treadmill and Bicycle Exercise
The aim of this study is to measure the integrated EMG in relation to the oxygen uptake during submaximal treadmill and bicycle exercises. Seven healthy adult subjects performed five minute exercise at three different submaximal work intensities on the same day. The EMG activity in right thigh and leg muscles was measured from m. rectus femoris, m. biceps femoris, m. tibialis anterior and m. gastrocnemius by means of four pairs of surface electrodes sealed with collodion to the skin at a distance of 3 cm apart over the belly of muscles. The EMG activity was not likely modified by the possible fatigue during 5 minutes submaximal exercise in this experiment. In the treadmill walking, there was a rectilinear relationship between integrated EMG activity from four muscle groups and percent of VO2max. On the bicycle exercise the correlation coefficient between them was generally lower than that on the treadmill walking. The product of integrated EMG and volume of the same muscle groups was considerably linearly related to oxygen uptake during treadmill and bicycle exercise (the correlation coefficient was 0.945, p < 0.001 in treadmill and 0.710, p < 0.001 in bicycle).