Skip to main content

Pacing and Awareness: Brain Regulation of Physical Activity

Sports Medicine volume 43, pages 1057–1064 (2013)Cite this article

Abstract

The aim of this current opinion article is to provide a contemporary perspective on the role of brain regulatory control of paced performances in response to exercise challenges. There has been considerable recent conjecture as to the role of the brain during exercise, and it is now broadly accepted that fatigue does not occur without brain involvement and that all voluntary activity is likely to be paced at some level by the brain according to individualised priorities and knowledge of personal capabilities. This article examines the role of pacing in managing and distributing effort to successfully accomplish physical tasks, while extending existing theories on the role of the brain as a central controller of performance. The opinion proposed in this article is that a central regulator operates to control exercise performance but achieves this without the requirement of an intelligent central governor located in the subconscious brain. It seems likely that brain regulation operates at different levels of awareness, such that minor homeostatic challenges are addressed automatically without conscious awareness, while larger metabolic disturbances attract conscious awareness and evoke a behavioural response. This supports the view that the brain regulates exercise performance but that the interpretation of the mechanisms underlying this effect have not yet been fully elucidated.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 49.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  1. Low D, Gramlich M, Engram B. Self-paced exercise program for office workers: impact on productivity and health outcomes. AAOHN J. 2007;55:99–105.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Day M, McGuigan MR, Brice G, Foster C. Monitoring exercise intensity during resistance training using the session RPE scale. J Strength Cond Res. 2004;18:353–8.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Impellizzeri F, Rampinini E, Coutts AJ, Sassi A, Marcora SM. Use of RPE-based training load in soccer. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004;36:1042–7.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. White P, Sharpe MC, Chalder T, DeCesare JC, Walwyn R. Protocol for the PACE trial: a randomised controlled trial of adaptive pacing, cognitive behaviour therapy, and graded exercise as supplements to standardised specialist medical care versus standardised specialist medical care alone for patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis or encephalopathy. BMC Neurol. 2007;7:1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ekkekakis P. Let them roam free? Physiological and psychological evidence for the potential of self-selected exercise intensity in public health. Sports Med. 2009;39:857–88.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Edwards AM, Polman RCJ. Pacing in sport and exercise: a psychophysiological perspective. New York: Nova Scientific Publishers; 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  7. St Clair Gibson A, Lambert MI, Noakes TD. Neural control of force output during maximal and submaximal exercise. Sports Med. 2001;31:637–50.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Noakes TD. Time to move beyond a brainless exercise physiology: the evidence for complex regulation of human exercise performance. Appl Physiol Nutr Metabol. 2011;36:23–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. St Clair Gibson A, Noakes TD. Evidence for complex system integration and dynamic neural regulation of skeletal muscle recruitment during exercise in humans. Br J Sports Med. 2004;38:797–806.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Noakes TD, St Clair Gibson A, Lambert EV. From catastrophe to complexity: a novel model of integrative central neural regulation of effort and fatigue during exercise in humans: summary and conclusions. Br J Sports Med. 2005;39:120–4.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. St Clair Gibson A, Lambert EV, Rauch LGH, Tucker R, Baden DA, Foster C, Noakes TD. The role of information processing between the brain and peripheral physiological systems in pacing and perception of effort. Sports Med. 2006;36:705–22.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Mauger AR, Jones AM, Williams CA. Influence of feedback and prior experience on pacing during a 4-km cycle time trial. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009;41:451–8.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Micklewright D, Papadopoulou E, Swart J, Noakes T. Previous experience influences pacing during 20 km time trial cycling. Br J Sports Med. 2010;44:952–60.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Foster C, Schrager M, Snyder AC, Thompson NN. Pacing strategy and athletic performance. Sports Med. 1994;17:77–85.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Costill D, Thomason H, Roberts E. Fractional utilization of the aerobic capacity during distance running. Med Sci Sports. 1973;5:248–52.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Bassett D, Howley E. Limiting factors for maximum oxygen uptake and determinants of endurance performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000;32:70–84.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Noakes TD. Fatigue is a brain-derived emotion that regulates the exercise behaviour to ensure the protection of whole body homeostasis. Front Physiol. 2012;3:1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Paterson S, Marino FE. Effect of deception of distance on prolonged cycling performance. Percept Mot Skill. 2004;98:1017–26.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Dugas J, Oosthuizen U, Tucker R, Noakes TD. Rates of fluid ingestion alter pacing but not thermoregulatory responses during prolonged exercise in hot and humid conditions with appropriate convective cooling. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2009;105:69–80.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Marino FE. Anticipatory regulation and avoidance of catastrophe during exercise-induced hyperthermia. Comp Biochem Physiol B Biochem Mol Biol. 2004;139:561–9.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Lambert EV, St Clair Gibson A, Noakes TD. Complex systems model of fatigue: integrative homoeostatic control of peripheral physiological systems during exercise in humans. Br J Sports Med. 2005;39:52–62.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Marcora SM, Staiano W, Manning V. Mental fatigue impairs physical performance in humans. J Appl Physiol. 2009;106:857–64.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Rauch H, St Clair Gibson A, Lambert EV. A signaling role for muscle glycogen in the regulation of pace during prolonged exercise. Br J Sports Med. 2005;39:34–8.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Rauch L, Rodger I, Wilson GR, Belonje JD, Dennis SC, Noakes TD, Hawley JA. Effects of carbohydrate loading on muscle glycogen content and cycling performance. Int J Sport Nutr. 1995;5:25–36.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Abbiss C, Laursen P. Describing and understanding pacing strategies during athletic competition. Sports Med. 2008;38:239–52.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Edwards AM, Lander PJ. Physiological responses to self-paced exercise: effort-matched comparisons across running and rowing modalities. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2012;52:344–50.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Lander PJ, Butterly RJ, Edwards AM. Self-paced exercise is less physically challenging than enforced constant pace exercise of the same intensity: influence of complex central metabolic control. Br J Sports Med. 2009;43:789–95.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Mauger AR, Jones AM, Williams CA. Influence of acetaminophen on performance during time trial cycling. J Appl Physiol. 2010;108:98–104.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Hargreaves M. Fatigue mechanisms determining exercise performance: integrative physiology is systems biology. J Appl Physiol. 2008;104:1541–2.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Magill R. Motor learning and control: concepts and applications. 9th ed. New York: McGraw Hill; 2011.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Tucker R. The anticipatory regulation of performance: the physiological basis for pacing strategies and the development of a perception-based model for exercise performance. Br J Sports Med. 2009;43:392–400.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Saunders AG, Dugas JP, Tucker R, Lambert MI, Noakes TD. The effects of different air velocities on heat storage and body temperature in humans cycling in a hot, humid environment. Acta Physiol Scand. 2005;183:241–55.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Tucker R, Bester A, Lambert EV, Noakes TD, Vaughan CL, St Clair Gibson A. Non-random fluctuations in power output during self-paced exercise. Br J Sports Med. 2006;40:912–7.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Tucker R, Rauch L, Harley Y, Noakes T. Impaired exercise performance in the heat is associated with an anticipatory reduction in skeletal muscle recruitment. Pflügers Archiv. 2004;448:422–30.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Corbett J, Barwood M, Ouzounoglou A, Thelwell R, Dicks M. Influence of competition on performance and pacing during cycling exercise. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012;44:509–15.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Swart J, Lindsay TR, Lambert MI, Brown JC, Noakes TD. Perceptual cues in the regulation of exercise performance—physical sensations of exercise and awareness of effort interact as separate cues. Br J Sports Med. 2012;46:42–8.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Noakes T. Testing for maximum oxygen consumption has produced a brainless model of human exercise performance. Br J Sports Med. 2008;42:551–5.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  38. Midgley A, McNaughton LR, Polman RCJ, Marchant D. Criteria for determination of the maximal oxygen uptake: a brief critique and recommendations for future research. Sports Med. 2007;37:1019–28.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Edwards A, Noakes TD. Dehydration: cause of fatigue or sign of pacing in elite soccer? Sports Med. 2009;39:1–13.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Noakes TD. Physiological models to understand exercise fatigue and the adaptations that predict or enhance athletic performance. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2000;10:123–45.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  41. Hochachka P. The lactate paradox: analysis of underlying mechanisms. Ann Sports Med. 1988;4:184–8.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Ulmer H. Concept of an extracellular regulation of muscular metabolic rate during heavy exercise in humans by psychophysiological feedback. Experimentia. 1996;52:416–20.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Marcora S. Do we really need a central governor to explain brain regulation of exercise performance? Eur J Appl Physiol. 2008;104:929–31.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Tucker R, Noakes TD. The physiological regulation of pacing strategy during exercise: a critical review. Br J Sports Med. 2009;43:1–9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Whittow G. Sturkie’s avian physiology. 5th ed. New York: Academic Press; 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Portas CM, Rees G, Howseman AM, Josephs O, Turner R, Frith CD. A specific role for the thalamus in mediating the interaction of attention and arousal in humans. J Neurosci. 1998;18:8979–89.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  47. Bridgeman B. Conscious vs. unconscious processes. Theory Psychol. 1992;2:73–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Vaneechoutte M. Experience, awareness and consciousness: suggestions for definitions as offered by an evolutionary approach. Found Sci. 2000;5:429–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Chalmers D. Facing up to the problem of consciousness. J Conscious Stud. 1995;2:200–19.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Crick F, Koch C. Are we aware of neural activity in primary visual cortex? Nature. 1995;375:121–3.

    PubMed  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  51. Gazzaniga M. Consciousness and the cerebral hemispheres. In: The cognitive neurosciences. Cambridge: MIT Press; 1996.

  52. Masters RSW. Knowledge, knerves and know-how: the role of explicit versus implicit knowledge in the breakdown of a complex motor skill under pressure. Br J Psychol. 1992;83:343–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

No funding was provided for the preparation of the paper. Neither author has any conflicts of interest. Both authors contributed fully to the preparation of this manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sport and Exercise Science, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia

    A. M. Edwards

  2. Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

    R. C. J. Polman

Authors
  1. A. M. Edwards
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R. C. J. Polman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. M. Edwards.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Edwards, A.M., Polman, R.C.J. Pacing and Awareness: Brain Regulation of Physical Activity. Sports Med 43, 1057–1064 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0091-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-013-0091-4

Keywords

  • Exercise Performance
  • Exercise Bout
  • Central Controller
  • Motor Unit Recruitment
  • Central Governor