Voluntary muscle activation varies with age and muscle group.

@article{Jakobi2002VoluntaryMA,
  title={Voluntary muscle activation varies with age and muscle group.},
  author={Jennifer M. Jakobi and Charles L Rice},
  journal={Journal of applied physiology},
  year={2002},
  volume={93 2},
  pages={
          457-62
        }
}
  • J. Jakobi, C. Rice
  • Published 1 August 2002
  • Medicine, Biology
  • Journal of applied physiology
The consistency and the number of attempts required to achieve maximal voluntary muscle activation have not been documented and compared between young and old adults. Furthermore, few studies have contrasted activation between functional pairs of muscle groups, and no study has tested upper limb muscles. The purpose of this study was to measure and compare voluntary muscle activation of the elbow flexors and extensors in young and old men over two separate test sessions. With the method of… 
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Highly Influential Citations
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141 Citations

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Comparison between old and young men for responses to fast velocity maximal lengthening contractions of the elbow flexors
TLDR
The results did not support the hypothesis that old men would be more susceptible to muscle damage, but confirmed a previous study reporting that recovery of muscle strength was slower for old than young individuals.
Voluntary activation and central activation failure in the knee extensors in young women and men
TLDR
Overall, young healthy, moderately active men and women did have the ability to fully activate their knee extensors isometrically, but they did not achieve full activation on every trial.
Differences between young and older women in maximal force, force fluctuations, and surface emg during isometric knee extension and elbow flexion
TLDR
Investigation of differences between eight young and eight older healthy women in maximal voluntary contraction, force fluctuations, median frequency of the surface electromyogram (sEMG), and muscle fiber conduction velocity during sustained isometric elbow flexion and knee extension at moderate to high force intensity found older women showed larger fluctuations of force with endurance and changes in sEMG pointing to less fatigue.
Effects of aging and sex on voluntary activation and peak relaxation rate of human elbow flexors studied with motor cortical stimulation
TLDR
Across the age range studied, all subjects, regardless of age or sex, were able to achieve high voluntary activation scores for the elbow flexors, and peak relaxation rate was markedly faster in men than women and slowed with age in men but not women.
Age‐related fatigue resistance in the knee extensor muscles is specific to contraction mode
TLDR
Fatigue during the isometric protocol was associated with fatigue during the dynamic protocol in the young group only, suggesting that distinct mechanisms influence fatigue during isometric and dynamic contractions in older adults.
Is there an intermuscular relationship in voluntary activation capacities and contractile kinetics?
TLDR
The results show that there is a partial common construct of maximal voluntary activation capacities that only concerns muscle groups that have incomplete activation during MVC (i.e., knee extensors and plantar flexors), which suggests that the common Construct of MVC strength between these two muscle groups is partly influenced by neural mechanisms.
Muscular performances at the ankle joint in young and elderly men.
TLDR
D dorsiflexor muscles were not affected by aging, contrary to plantarflexors, in which the decline in torque was partly explained by changes intervening at the peripheral level.
Neuromuscular changes of the aged human hamstrings.
TLDR
It is found that both contractile function and motor unit discharge rates across the range of voluntary intensities were lower in the old and the differences in discharge rates due to age were greater in the medial hamstrings muscle group compared with the lateral hamstrings.
Comparative effects of resistance training on peak isometric torque, muscle hypertrophy, voluntary activation and surface EMG between young and elderly women
TLDR
Evidence is provided that participation in regular resistance exercise can have significant neuromuscular benefits in women independent of age and the lack of change in voluntary activation following resistance training in both age groups despite the increase in EMG may be related to differences between measurements in their ability to detect resistance training‐induced changes in motor unit activity.
Power loss is greater in old men than young men during fast plantar flexion contractions.
TLDR
Despite a better maintenance in isometric MVC torque production, the weaker and slower contracting triceps surae of the old was more fatigable than the young during fast dynamic efforts with an unconstrained velocity.
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References

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