Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between actual time to exhaustion or time limit (AT LIM) during bicycle ergometry and predicted time to exhaustion (PT LIM) from the Critical Power (CP) test. Fourteen males (22.36 +/- 2.13 years) volunteered as subjects for this investigation. The subjects visited the laboratory on seven occasions separated by at least 24 h. The first two visits were used for the determination of CP; during the remainingsessions the subjects rode a Monarch bicycle ergometer at power loadings of CP - 20, CP, CP + 20, CP + 40 and CP + 60 for the determination of AT LIM. Theoretically, power loadings </= CP can be maintrained indefinitely without exhaustion and the PT LIM for power loadings > CP can be estimated from the results of the CP test. The accuracy of the CP test for estimation the time to exhaustion during bicycle ergometry was determined by comparing AT LIM to PT LIM using correlation coefficients, standard error of estimates and related t-tests. The results of this study indicated that there were no significant differences between AT LIM and PT LIM for power loadings > CP (AT LIM VS PT LIM at CP + 20 = 8.19 +/- 3.90 VS 7.13 +/- 2.69 min, t = 2.106, r = 0.893, SEE = 1.21 min; CP + 40 = 3.60 +/- 1.37 VS 3.46 +/- 1.18 min, t = 0.842, r = 0.882, SEE = 0.556 min; CP + 60 = 2.36 +/- 0.95 VS 2.32 +/- 0.79 min; t = 0.328 r = 0.841, SEE = 0.428 min). Power curve analyses however, indicated that the CP test overestimated the power loading which could be maintained for 60 min by a mean of approximately 17. Verf.-Referat