Welcome to The Cycling Performance Club Podcast! When it comes to performing and prescribing training sessions, there are four main principles to consider: frequency, duration, volume, and intensity. The first three of these principles are relatively simple and agreed upon. However, when it comes to exercise intensity we can quickly find ourselves traveling down a crazy rabbit hole- as it’s definitely not as simple as exercising at a percentage of FTP.In the next two episodes we go deep down the rabbit hole of exercise intensity with Dr. Nick Jamnick, a postdoctoral fellow and researcher in exercise intensity. We came across Nick while digging into the scientific literature on this topic, and let’s just say his contribution to this field of research can be characterised as both “eye-opening” and “brutal”.  In this episode we focus on a study Nick performed during his PhD where he tested the validity of determining VO2max and lactate thresholds during a graded exercise test. His results were shocking to say the least- and also relevant to the performance focused cyclist as graded exercise tests on smart trainers and inexpensive blood lactate analysers make some of this testing possible at home.Guest panelist:Nicholas Jamnick, PhDResearchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nicholas-JamnickLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-jamnick-8351a7a7/Twitter: @SportResearchExCo-hosts:Jason Boynton, Ph.D.boyntoncoaching.comCyrus Monkcyclistscientist.comProducer & co-host:Damian Rusesemiprocycling.comInstagram: @cyclingperformanceclubFacebook: @cyclingperformanceclubTwitter: @cyclingclubpodLinkedIn: The Cycling Performance Club PodcastReferences:Manipulating graded exercise test variables affects the validity of the lactate threshold and VO2 peakhttps://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0199794