Metabolomics study on the intervention effect of Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae extract in exercise-induced exhaustion rat using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry

•RSM supplementation, especially in the middle dose, significantly extended the swimming time to exhaustion in rats.•RSM treatment restored scores plot close to normal and showed regulatory effects on the muscle metabolic profiles.•RSM exerts a good anti-fatigue effect by regulating energy metabolism, oxidant-antioxidant balance, and endogenous metabolites in the exercising muscle.•Metabolomics is an effective tool for the estimation of the anti-fatigue property of medicine.