For those of you who are familiar with it, what do you think?
Briefly (and possibly inaccurately) Noakes and St Clair describe the possibility of exercise fatigue being related to neurological mechanisms which prevent complete depletion of essential substances (O2, CHO, ATP, etc) rather than due to the lack of these substances themselves. Thus motor unit recruitment is reduced as exercise continues. The idea being that the body always keeps something in reserve, with the brain acting as a 'central governor' preventing depletion. It is speculated that part of the benefit of interval training is training the brain to more accurately evaluate remaining energy stores rather than cardio-vascular, skeletal muscular or neuromuscular adaption (though these clearly occur also).
What are the implications of this theory for training, and what weight does it hold?
I find it interesting in that it might explain the performance enhancing effects and the health consequences of stimulants - ephedrine, etc - in that they may have a role in blocking the central governor.
Briefly (and possibly inaccurately) Noakes and St Clair describe the possibility of exercise fatigue being related to neurological mechanisms which prevent complete depletion of essential substances (O2, CHO, ATP, etc) rather than due to the lack of these substances themselves. Thus motor unit recruitment is reduced as exercise continues. The idea being that the body always keeps something in reserve, with the brain acting as a 'central governor' preventing depletion. It is speculated that part of the benefit of interval training is training the brain to more accurately evaluate remaining energy stores rather than cardio-vascular, skeletal muscular or neuromuscular adaption (though these clearly occur also).
What are the implications of this theory for training, and what weight does it hold?
I find it interesting in that it might explain the performance enhancing effects and the health consequences of stimulants - ephedrine, etc - in that they may have a role in blocking the central governor.
