To examine the influence of aging on the mechanism of muscle fatigue, we compared the magnitude of central and peripheral fatigue in young and old women before, during and after a sustained submaximaI isometric contraction of elbow flexor muscles. Twelve women (6 young. $20.7{pm}1.2$ years and 6 old, $68.8{pm}29$ years) performed a contraction at 20% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) torque with their non-dominant arm. The old women were weaker than the young women, however their endurance time for the 20% contraction was longer compared with the young women ($1822{pm}444$ vs. $1061{pm}678$ sec, P <. 05). Both groups had a similar reduction in voluntary activation ratio (VA) during and after the fatiguing contraction. However, the old women showed much greater variability in VA before and after the contraction ($91.61{pm}4.54%$ and $76.70{pm}19.55;%$ range of $79{sim}99$ to $87{sim}99%$ respectively) compared with the young women ($95.71{pm}1.86;%$ and $83.46{pm}7.57;%$ range of $39{sim}75$ to $69{sim}90%$, respectively). Furthermore, the EMG activity of the elbow flexor muscles and triceps brachii was greater for the old women compared with the young women throughout the fatiguing contraction, indicating different activation strategies with age. Indices of peripheral fatigue including twitch properties, showed that fatigue within the muscle was more rapid for the young women compared with the old women. These results suggest that although old women are weaker than young women, they have greater endurance due to mechanisms within muscle. Furthermore, old women showed great variability in their ability to optimally activate all muscle fiber compared with young women for an isometric contraction.