In a previous article titled, Critical Power: Modeling The Power-Duration Curve, I introduced the critical power model, which aims to provide us with a useful way of modeling time to exhaustion in athletes as well as quantifying changes in both fitness characteristics and performance. One of the most fascinating things about the critical power model is that it applies across kingdoms, phylums, and classes of animal life. This suggests a highly conserved and organized physiological process, and perhaps even a unifying principle of bioenergetics. Part of my ongoing research, at the time of this article’s publication, has involved better understanding the mechanistic basis of the critical power model, which began with a paper I published titled, “The Future Is NIRS: Muscle Oxygen Saturation As An Estimation Of The Power Duration Curve”. At the end of that paper I made the following statement:
“It has previously been observed that as exercise increases up to a heavy exertion level, or clo…
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