Abstract

--- - Objectives. - Cumulative fatigue is an unwanted result of consecutive days of exercise. We hypothesize that a natural antioxidant such as green tea extract from Camellia sinensis could reduce the effects of cumulative fatigue. Here we determine whether green tea extract could prevent muscle damage and preserve neuromuscular activity in a condition of cumulative fatigue. - Equipment and methods. - Sixteen untrained men were divided into intervention (500 mg green tea extract) and placebo (500 mg celulomax E) groups and tested for biceps brachii strength and neuromuscular electrical activity, muscle damage, and oxidative status before and after cumulative fatigue induced by two consecutive days of biceps curl exercise. In fatigue induction, work volume was assessed. The significance level adopted was 0.05. - Results. - Cumulative fatigue caused muscle damage in both groups (P < 0.01) without affecting strength. The green tea extract group was able to sustain the exercise volume (P = 0.43), while it was reduced for the placebo group (P = 0.04). The green tea extract group showed preserved neuromuscular activity (entropy and frequency slope) compared to placebo. The green tea extract group showed stable oxidative status (P = 0.09), which was increased in placebo (P = 0.03). - Conclusion. - Green tea extract supplementation did not affect the magnitude of muscle dam-age after cumulative fatigue but helped preserve neuromuscular performance and maintain exercise volume by minimizing oxidative stress resulting from cumulative fatigue. (C) 2022 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.