Abstract
The study and application of the critical power (CP) concept has spanned many decades. The CP test provides estimates of two distinct parameters, CP and W′, that describe aerobic and anaerobic metabolic capacities, respectively. Various mathematical models have been used to estimate the CP and W′ parameters across exercise modalities. Recently, the CP model has been applied to dynamic constant external resistance (DCER) exercises. The same hyperbolic relationship that has been established across various continuous, whole-body, dynamic movements has also been demonstrated for upper-, lower-, and whole-body DCER exercises. The asymptote of the load versus repetition relationship is defined as the critical load (CL) and the curvature constant is L′. The CL and L′ can be estimated from the same linear and non-linear mathematical models used to derive the CP. The aims of this review are to (1) provide an overview of the CP concept across continuous, dynamic exercise modalities; (2) describe the recent applications of the model to DCER exercise; (3) demonstrate how the mathematical modeling of DCER exercise can be applied to further our understanding of fatigue and individual performance capabilities; and (4) make initial recommendations regarding the methodology for estimating the parameters of the CL test.
Highlights
Historical Perspective: The Influence of Dr Herbert A. deVriesOver his 50-year career as a professor of physical education and exercise physiology, Dr Herbert A. deVries published many landmark discoveries in areas such as the health and fitness benefits of exercise training in the elderly, the tranquilizer effect of exercise, applications of surface electromyography in fatigue and muscle function, and neural factors and hypertrophy in the time course of muscle strength gains [1,2,3,4,5]
Dr deVries was an avid airplane and glider pilot. It was in his graduate course in ergonomics at the University of Southern California in the late 1970s that his passions for aviation and human performance came together and led to the development of the whole-body analogue of the critical power (CP) technique described by Monod and Scherrer [6] for continuous and intermittent static contractions of synergic muscle groups
This study extended the work of Monod and Scherrer [6] to whole-body cycle ergometry and has served as the foundation for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of papers related to the CP concept [8,9,10,11]
Summary
Over his 50-year career as a professor of physical education and exercise physiology, Dr Herbert A. deVries published many landmark discoveries in areas such as the health and fitness benefits of exercise training in the elderly, the tranquilizer effect of exercise, applications of surface electromyography in fatigue and muscle function, and neural factors and hypertrophy in the time course of muscle strength gains [1,2,3,4,5]. Dr deVries was an avid airplane and glider pilot It was in his graduate course in ergonomics at the University of Southern California in the late 1970s that his passions for aviation and human performance came together and led to the development of the whole-body analogue of the critical power (CP) technique described by Monod and Scherrer [6] for continuous and intermittent static contractions of synergic muscle groups. During this time period, there was international interest in human-powered flight, driven, in part, by prize money offered by British industrialist Henry Kremer. The aims of this review are to (1) provide an overview of the CP concept across continuous, dynamic exercise modalities; (2) describe the recent applications of the model to dynamic constant external resistance (DCER) exercise; (3) demonstrate how the mathematical modeling of DCER exercise can be applied to further our understanding of fatigue and individual performance capabilities; and (4) make initial recommendations regarding the methodology for estimating the parameters of the critical load (CL) test
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