Martin Buchheit, Tzlil Shushan, Steve Barrett, Tannath J. Scott,Stefan Altmann, Alireza Rabbani, Mauro Mandorino, Mathieu Lacome,Ric Lovell, Shaun J. McLaren (September 2025].

Key points (4 out of 12)

> Submaximal runs and their variants assess a continuum of physiological responses (from generic to specific exercise) and can provide important information about cardiovascular status, but not true sport-specific fitness, which remains a performance precondition that cannot be directly measured.

> Embedded and invisible submaximal tests enable frequent low-fatiguing monitoring options in team sports.

>Exercise HR (HRex) is a stable, sensitive indicator of cardiovascular adaptation.

> HRex changes correlate moderately with aerobic-related performance measures (r ≈ 0.7), with each 4–5% HRexchange being associated with a 0.5 km·h change in MAS for example.