Falling is a significant problem among older adults. This elevated fall risk may be related to reduced strength in older adults’ lower extremities, as strength is a fundamental component of the sensorimotor system that supports balance. Therefore further reductions in strength incurred through fatiguing exercise may compound older adults’ fall risk. Two testing paradigms were used to investigate this, including a forward lean-and-release balance perturbation and a submaximal, isometric force control task. These tests were administered to young and older adults before and after an isokinetic fatiguing exercise of the knee extensors and ankle plantarflexors. During the balance task, participants were released from a forward leaning configuration, and were required to take a step to regain their balance. Ground reaction forces and kinematic data were captured during each step response. During the force control task, participants produced isometric torque with the knee extensors or ankle plantarflexors equal to 40% of their maximal torque. During balance trials, increasing age was associated with increases in step length and timing. During force control trials, increasing age was associated with reduced torque production rate and increased torque production timing. Fatigue only had an effect on young adults:​ during balance trials, knee fatigue was related to increased step timing and reduced step speed;​ during force control trials, knee and ankle fatigue were related to reduced torque production rate. These results suggest that fatigue does not affect older adults’ balance or force control performance. This may be attributed to older adults’ larger proportion of type I (fatigue-resistant) muscle fibers. However, age itself reduced performance:​ the longer step used by older adults may represent a disadvantage since longer steps have greater strength requirements;​ and the reduced torque production characteristics suggest that older adults’ joint torque performance would also be reduced during a balance perturbation. If these performance measures were reduced below the minimum threshold needed for balance recovery, a fall may occur. Future studies should investigate these parameters on chronic fallers to determine whether a) performance measures are further reduced and b) fatigue has an effect on this population.