Cross, Troy J.

During severe exercise, expiratory and inspiratory muscle fatigue develops by ∼50% of the tolerable exercise duration. The magnitude of expiratory and inspiratory muscle fatigue increases progressively toward exercise intolerance but is not different between muscle groups; this is despite the expiratory muscles being less fatigue-resistant. Inspecting esophageal and gastric twitches via cervical stimulation, we speculate that the progressive magnitude of exercise-induced inspiratory muscle fatigue is a function of recruitment and fatigue of the accessory inspiratory muscles.