Critical power: what is being measured and why?

Excerpt

The recently published article by Constantini, Sabapathy, & Cross: “A single-session testing protocol to determine critical power and W’” (Constantini et al. 2014) is an excellent paper in showing that the single, 3-min supra-maximal effort that determines critical power (CP) and the preceding gas-exchange-threshold/VO_2peak test could both be performed in a single session. This may well be a contribution to the practicality of CP testing in its present form. However, while the authors start out stating that CP represents “the highest rate of muscular work where a metabolic ‘steady state’ can be achieved”, there is no attempt to externally validate the findings and convince the reader that either the double- or single-session CP version, or both, are indeed true representations of that steady-state. …