Poole et al. 2016, Critical power as a fatigue threshold

David C. Poole, Mark Burnley, Anni Vanhatalo, Harry B. Rossiter & Andrew M. Jones. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 48(11):2320-2334, 2016. Review arguing that critical power (CP) is a genuine fatigue threshold that divides intensity into domains. Below CP, the physiological responses to exercise (VO2, blood lactate, muscle metabolites) can be stabilised at a steady state; above CP they cannot, and drift inexorably until VO2max is reached and W’ is expended, at which point exhaustion occurs. CP is described as the highest sustainable rate of oxidative metabolism without progressive loss of muscle metabolic homeostasis. The relationship is highly conserved across species and exercise modes. A review of controlled physiology.