2022/07/28 by Fabian C Weigend, Edward Gray, Weigend, Fabian C. +5
Engineering · Medicine · #Cardiovascular and exercise physiology #FOS: Biological sciences #Muscle activation and electromyography studies #Quantitative Methods (q-bio.QM) #Sports Performance and Training
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2207.14295
openalex publication_date 2022/07/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Purpose: Performance models are important tools for coaches and athletes to optimise competition outcomes or training schedules. A recently published hydraulic performance model has been reported to outperform established work-balance models in predicting recovery during intermittent exercise. The new hydraulic model was optimised to predict exercise recovery dynamics. In this work, we hypothesised that the benefits of the model come at the cost of inaccurate predictions of metabolic responses to exercise such as VO2. Methods: Hydraulic model predictions were compared to breath-by-breath VO2 data from 25 constant high-intensity exercise tests of 5 participants (age 32±7.8 years, weight 73.6 ± 5.81 kg, VO2max 3.59 ± 0.62 L/min). Each test was performed to volitional exhaustion on a cycle ergometer with a duration between 2 and 12 min. The comparison focuses on the onset of VO2 kinetics. Results: On average, the hydraulic model predicted peak VO2 during exercise 216±113~s earlier than observed in the data. The new hydraulic model also did not predict the so-called VO2 slow component and made the unrealistic assumption that there is no VO2 at the onset of exercise. Conclusion: While the new hydraulic model may be a powerful tool for predicting energy recovery, it should not be used to predict metabolic responses during high-intensity exercise. The present study contributes towards a more holistic picture of the benefits and limitations of the new hydraulic model. Data and code are published as open source.