Published in:
01-12-2014 | Letter to the Editor
Critical power: what is being measured and why?
Author:
Raffy Dotan
Published in:
European Journal of Applied Physiology
|
Issue 12/2014
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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. …