Abstract
Terrestrial vertebrates pounce on prey, negotiate uneven terrain, and ultimately come to a complete stop. To perform these controlled decelerations, an animal must absorb, or dissipate, mechanical energy in its skeletal muscles. This is achieved by eccentric contractions in which skeletal muscles actively produce force during an imposed stretch. My dissertation research investigated how timing of activation, relaxation rate and muscle architecture influence the rate of active lengthening of skeletal muscle.