Mixed
Critical Power (CP) is the gold standard for defining the maximal metabolic steady state, whereas Maximal Lactate Steady State (MLSS) systematically underestimates this threshold due to methodological limitations.
Stop using Maximal Lactate Steady State (MLSS) or arbitrary 60-minute functional thresholds as your primary guide for endurance capacity. Instead, determine your Critical Power (CP) using a power-duration curve model. CP accurately separates the 'heavy' intensity domain (where homeostasis is possible) from the 'severe' domain (where fatigue is inevitable). Training prescriptions based on CP are more physiologically robust than those based on MLSS, which tends to underestimate your true sustainable power.
CP represents the genuine boundary separating exercise in which physiological homeostasis can be maintained from exercise in which it cannot, and should be considered the gold standard when the goal is to determine the maximal metabolic steady state.
Why this rating
This is a comprehensive invited review by leading experts synthesizing decades of physiological data.
Source
The maximal metabolic steady state: redefining the ‘gold standard’
Andrew M. Jones et al. · Physiological Reports · 2019
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