ReviewEuropean journal of applied physiology2003
Exercise starts and ends in the brain.
Review in European journal of applied physiology, 2003. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02854280 (Brain During Effort), which is not on this map. Cited by 68 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Brain During Effort : Effects of Hypoxia With Respiratory Patients
Who cites it
68 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Differences in time to task failure and fatigability between children and young adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of intermittent hypoxia on SaO(2), cerebral and muscle oxygenation during maximal exercise in athletes with exercise-induced hypoxemia.European journal of applied physiology · 2008Trial
- Locomotor muscle fatigue modifies central motor drive in healthy humans and imposes a limitation to exercise performance.The Journal of physiology · 2008Trial
- During hypoxic exercise some vasoconstriction is needed to match O2 delivery with O2 demand at the microcirculatory level.The Journal of physiology · 2008Trial
- Severity of arterial hypoxaemia affects the relative contributions of peripheral muscle fatigue to exercise performance in healthy humans.The Journal of physiology · 2007Trial
- The rate of heat storage mediates an anticipatory reduction in exercise intensity during cycling at a fixed rating of perceived exertion.The Journal of physiology · 2006Trial
- Task Failure in Endurance Sports: A Review.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Review
- EEG-Metabolic Coupling and Time Limit at V˙OJournal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- A Narrative Hypothesis: The Important Role of Gut Microbiota in the Modulation of Effort Tolerance in Endurance Athletes.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Boys vs men differences in muscular fatigue, muscle and cerebral oxygenation during maximal effort isometric contractions: the effect of muscle blood flow restriction.European journal of applied physiology · 2025Article
- Effect of acute fatigue on force generation accuracy and repeatability in youth athletes.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Enhancing endurance performance with combined imagined and actual physical practice.European journal of applied physiology · 2024Article
- Chronic supplementation of noni in diabetic type 1-STZ rats: effects on glycemic levels, kidney toxicity and exercise performance.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2023Article
- AltitudeOmics: effects of 16 days acclimatization to hypobaric hypoxia on muscle oxygen extraction during incremental exercise.Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md. : 1985) · 2023Article
- Increased brainBiology of sport · 2023Article
- Single and Combined Effects of Preferred Music and Endpoint Knowledge on Jump Performance in Basketball Players.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Enhances Exercise Performance: A Mini Review of the Underlying Mechanisms.Frontiers in neuroergonomics · 2022Review
- Neuromuscular Activity during Cycling Performance in Hot/Dry and Hot/Humid Conditions.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Article
- On the reliability and validity of central fatigue determination.European journal of applied physiology · 2021Review
- Effects of intracerebroventricularly administered opioid peptide antagonists on tissue glycogen levels in rats after exerciseTurkish journal of medical sciences · 2021Article
8 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Classically the limit to endurance of exercise is explained in terms of metabolic capacity. Cardio-respiratory capacity and muscle fatigue are thought to set the limit and the majority of studies on factors limiting endurance exercise discuss issues such as maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max), aerobic enzyme capacity, cardiac output, glycogen stores, etc. However, this paradigm does not explain the limitation to endurance exercise with large muscle groups at altitude, when at exhaustion exercise is ended without limb locomotor muscle fatigue and with sub-maximal cardiac output. A simple fact provides a basis for an explanation. Voluntary exercise starts and ends in the brain. It starts with spatial and temporal recruitment of motor units and ends with their de-recruitment. A conscious decision precedes a voluntary effort. The end of effort is again volitional and a forced conscious decision to stop precedes it, but it is unknown what forces the off-switch of recruitment at exhaustion although sensation of exertion certainly plays a role. An alternative model explaining the limitation of exercise endurance thus proposes that the central nervous system integrates input from various sources all related to the exercise and limits the intensity and duration of recruitment of limb skeletal muscle to prevent jeopardizing the integrity of the organism. This model acknowledges the cardio-respiratory and muscle metabolic capacities as prime actors on the performance scene, while crediting the central nervous system for its pivotal role as the ultimate site where exercise starts and ends.
Indexed as
Identifiers
12883902What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.