ArticleMedicine and science in sports and exercise2020
Physiological Evidence That the Critical Torque Is a Phase Transition, Not a Threshold.
Article in Medicine and science in sports and exercise, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Field-based tests for determining critical speed among runners and its practical application: a systematic review.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Pooled it
- The Additional Effect of Training Above the Maximal Metabolic Steady State on VO2peak, Wpeak and Time-Trial Performance in Endurance-Trained Athletes: A Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Reality Check.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Pooled it
- The use of non-linear tools to analyze the variability of force production as an index of fatigue: A systematic review.Frontiers in physiology · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy of Baduanjin Exercise for Sarcopenia in Older Adults: A 24-Week Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2025Trial
- Agreement between the respiratory compensation point and various critical power estimates using a step-ramp-step protocol in cyclists.European journal of applied physiology · 2026Article
- Quadriceps Muscle Length Differentially Affects Exercise Capacity, the Torque-Duration Relationship, and Neuromuscular Fatigue.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2026Article
- Neuromuscular fatigue and loss of torque complexity during severe-intensity exercise: The role of muscle size.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- The relationship between cadence decline, cardiovascular drift and aerobic decoupling as a marker of fatigue in well trained cyclists.BMC sports science, medicine & rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Force fluctuations regulation and the role of neurophysiological mechanisms throughout different isometric contraction intensities.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Is there a critical rate of torque development?European journal of applied physiology · 2025Article
- Critical Power and Maximal Lactate Steady State in Cycling: "Watts" the Difference?Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2024Review
- Sex differences in the intensity-duration relationships of the severe- and extreme-intensity exercise domains.European journal of sport science · 2023Article
- Prediction of Exercise Tolerance in the Severe and Extreme Intensity Domains by a Critical Power Model.Journal of human kinetics · 2023Article
- The Neuromuscular Fatigue-Induced Loss of Muscle Force Control.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- A three-minute all-out test performed in a remote setting does not provide a valid estimate of the maximum metabolic steady state.European journal of applied physiology · 2022Article
- A critical review of critical power.European journal of applied physiology · 2022Review
- Critical power is the severe intensity domain boundary, not a power output that can be maintained "for a very long time without fatigue".European journal of applied physiology · 2022Article
- Unwarranted manipulation of the critical power concept: response to Dr. Burnley.European journal of applied physiology · 2022Article
- Power profiling and the power-duration relationship in cycling: a narrative review.European journal of applied physiology · 2022Review
- Fatigue-induced changes in knee-extensor torque complexity and muscle metabolic rate are dependent on joint angle.European journal of applied physiology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionDistinct physiological responses to exercise occur in the heavy- and severe-intensity domains, which are separated by the critical power or critical torque (CT). However, how the transition between these intensity domains actually occurs is not known. We tested the hypothesis that CT is a sudden threshold, with no gradual transition from heavy- to severe-intensity behavior within the confidence limits associated with the CT.
methodsTwelve healthy participants performed four exhaustive severe-intensity trials for the determination of CT, and four 30-min trials in close proximity to CT (one or two SE above or below each participant's CT estimate; CT - 2, CT - 1, CT + 1, CT + 2). Muscle O2 uptake, rectified electromyogram, and torque variability and complexity were monitored throughout each trial, and maximal voluntary contractions (MVC) with femoral nerve stimulation were performed before and after each trial to determine central and peripheral fatigue responses.
resultsThe rates of change in fatigue-related variables, muscle O2 uptake, electromyogram amplitude, and torque complexity were significantly faster in the severe trials compared with CT - 2. For example, the fall in MVC torque was -1.5 ± 0.8 N·m·min in CT - 2 versus -7.9 ± 2.5 N·m·min in the lowest severe-intensity trial (P < 0.05). Individual analyses showed a low frequency of severe responses even in the circa-CT trials ostensibly above the CT, but also the rare appearance of severe-intensity responses in all circa-CT trials.
conclusionsThese data demonstrate that the transition between heavy- and severe-intensity exercise occurs gradually rather than suddenly.
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