A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE 2- AND 3-PARAMETER CRITICAL POWER MODELS

Abstract

21 We compared estimates of critical power (CP), anaerobic work capacity (AWC) and maximum power (Pmax) on 15 subjects (6 women; 9 men; 25.6 ± 4.9 yr; VO2max = 3.40 ± 0.91 l/min) using two mathematically (but not statistically) equivalent 2- and 3-parameter models, one in which time (t) and one in which total work (Wtot) is designated as the dependent variable. The models produced the following parameter estimates: (Table)TableThe 3-par models produced significantly (p < 0.05) lower estimates of CP and significantly higher estimates of AWC. Pmax was lower, and AWC higher (p < 0.05) than peak power (717 ± 41 W) and anaerobic capacity (16.0 ± 0.9 kJ) determined on the Wingate anaerobic test. Prolonged exercise at the 3-par CP (56.0 ± 2.0 min; Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) = 15.5 ± 0.4) was better tolerated than at the 2-par CP (50.0 ± 2.9 min; RPE = 16.5 ± 0.4). We conclude that the 3-par models produce estimates of CP that better reflect the capacity for prolonged exercise.