Performance during the Wingate anaerobic test and muscle morphology in males and females

Performance indices during the Wingate 30-s anaerobic test and their relationship to muscle morphology of the vastus lateralis muscle were studied in 30 untrained male and female subjects. Absolute values for peak power (P05), total work performed (TW), power decrease (PD), and post-test blood lactate concentration were significantly greater for the male subjects. When expressed per unit of body mass or leg volume, both P05 and TW were larger for the males than the females (P less than 0.05). Significant correlations were noted for P05, TW, PD, and blood lactate and the percent of fast-twitch (FT) fibers and the percent relative area of FT fibers for the male but not the female subjects. The results from this experiment reveal a significant influence of muscle morphology on short-term anaerobic work performance for these male subjects. The absence of a similar relationship for the women subjects was likely due to the use of an inappropriately high resistance setting.