Perception of effort, not muscle fatigue, limits endurance performance

[HerbM]

Perception of effort, not muscle fatigue, limits endurance performance Perception of effort, not muscle fatigue, limits endurance performance

As recently as 2008, scientific research papers were citing the theory that endurance performance is limited by the capacity of the skeletal muscles, heart and lungs and that exhaustion occurs when the active muscles are unable to produce the force or power required by prolonged exercise.

Dr Sam Marcora, an exercise physiologist at Bangor University, has now disproved this for the first time and proposed an alternative - that it is your perception of effort that limits your endurance performance, not the actual capability of your muscles. He showed that the muscles were still able to achieve the power output required by endurance exercise even when the point of perceived exhaustion had been reached.


This will inevitably lead to new training and coaching techniques, based on this new understanding of the role of perceived effort in endurance performance.

There is more worth reading both at PhysOrg and in the offered links to the original paper -- even if many advanced trainers and athletes know this already it is good to get the science....

Actual paper:
The limit to exercise tolerance in humans: mind over muscle?
SpringerLink - Journal Article The full text does not appear to be available for free.

Personal note: I am thinking specifically of boxing of course, and examples such as hard, fast jabs over and over (and over....)

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HerbM