Relationship between muscle fascicle length and sports performance

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Muscle fiber shortening velocity is a reasonable parameter for the determination of sprint performance. Velocity of shortening is determined by biochemical and architectural properties. The purpose of this project was to examine the relationship between architectural characteristics of leg muscles and sprint running performance in vivo. Fascicle length of the selected locomotor muscles is greater in elite sprinters than that of the elite distance runners. Sprint running performance is related to muscle fascicle length in male and female 100-m sprint specialists. Greater fascicle length observed in leg muscle of sprinters would appear to favor shortening velocity as required for greater running speed. However, a large inter-individual variation is seen in muscle fascicle length in the athletes, but the reasons for this phenomenon are unclear. Muscle fascicle length might be determined primarily by genetic and/or environmental factors.Nine monozygous twin pairs were studied, and it appears that genetic predisposition is the predominant factor for determination of muscle fascicle length. However, MG muscle fascicle length data raise the possibility that fascicle length may be further influenced by external environmental factors such as physical training. The sumo wrestlers with extreme muscle enlargement have greater fascicle length compared with control subjects. Relative fascicle length correlate with muscle size. Also the difference (dominant leg minus non-dominant leg) in muscle size is correlated with the difference in muscle fascicle length in the junior soccer players. Therefore, it appears possible that fascicle length may be further influenced by physical training.