Figure 1.

Experimental Design of Handgrip Exercise Testing: Handgrip exercise to exhaustion was performed by all subjects using a cross-over design. After maximal grip strength had been established, each participant exercised at 50 % maximal grip strength for up to 10 min followed by forearm occlusion or the control condition in counterbalanced order. Complete forearm occlusions for up to 10 min were always done on the dominant arm after the handgrip exercise using a blood pressure cuff. During the control condition, a non-inflated blood pressure cuff was tightly wrapped around the upper part of the exercised extremity for up to 10 min serving as control condition. The red arrows represent time points at which overall fatigue ratings were obtained from all participants at baseline, after handgrip exercise, after forearm occlusion (or control condition), and at the end of the experiment.