Critical power may be determined from two tests in elite kayakers

Eight highly trained male kayakers were studied in an attempt to examine whether critical power (CP), based upon four tests, could be determined from a combination of any two tests. The mean age of the subjects was 26.3 (SEM 3.8) years, mean height was 180.9 (SEM 5.1) cm, and mean body mass was 81.7 (SEM 8.3) kg. Four exercise sessions of 90 s, 240 s, 600 s, and 1200 s duration were used. For each subject the total work output was plotted against the duration of each test, the CP being obtained from the line of best fit. The CP obtained from this relationship was then compared to the CP derived from six combinations (90/240, 90/600, 90/1200, 240/600, 240/1200 and 600 00 s) of various performance times. A repeated measures analysis of variance found a significant difference between the exercise intensity obtained from the line of best fit and that obtained for the combination of exercise times of 90/240 s, F(7,1) = 11.12 (P < 0.05). No other significant differences were found between the CP from the line of best fit and that from any of the other possible exercise combinations. This would suggest that any combination of time intervals except 90/240 s may be used to determine the CP of elite kayakers.