Energy: what is critical power and W" and why does it matter?

Each morning when you wake up, you do so with energy. Depending on your lifestyle, the energy can last you the entire day or a few hours.

So what exactly is this energy? How can you understand it and use it to your benefit?

Every movement you make, from climbing stairs to running for the bus, requires energy.

Your body is essentially a sophisticated power system, constantly producing and managing energy to fuel everything you do.

Understanding how this system works can transform how you approach daily activities and exercise.

The primary requirement for energy is oxygen, also known as the aerobic energy pathway. For very short durations, your body can produce energy without oxygen, known as the anaerobic pathway.

But we need to make this useful for everyday life.

Imagine your energy production as a bathtub filling with water while you’re using it. Critical power is the rate at which water flows through. If you use water slower than it refills, you can continue forever.

Use it faster, and you’re dipping into a finite reserve.

For the average person, critical power might be a brisk walk or light jog. Any intensity you could theoretically maintain for hours without complete exhaustion.

But what about the brief burst of energy, you may ask?

It is known as W” (“W prime).W” is the measure of your anaerobic capacity, the amount of energy you can produce without oxygen.

Here is the magic.

Both your critical power and W” are flexible. You can change or improve it.

The more you use both critical power and W” energy, the better you will get.

It does not matter to your body how you do it. Walk around the house, work your corn fields or climb Kilimanjaro. More is better.

If you want to apply these concepts to your everyday life, learn your point of exhaustion for both. For critical power it may be sixty minutes. For W” it may be thirty seconds.

But where ever you are, with sustained training, you can get better.

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