Bernhard Prinz

Bernhard Prinz serves as a Research Assistant in both the Bachelor's and Master's Degree Programs in Training & Sport at the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt (FHWN), located at Campus 1 in Wiener Neustadt, Austria. His academic work focuses on exercise physiology with particular emphasis on oxygen dynamics and performance assessment in athletic populations.

Prinz's research interests center around exercise physiology, specifically examining oxygen uptake kinetics, muscle deoxygenation patterns, and performance metrics across different populations. His work primarily investigates youth cycling development, tracking physiological changes over multi-year periods in competitive adolescent cyclists. He also explores specialized equipment effects (such as carbon running shoes), critical power determination across testing environments, and physiological adaptations in high-demand occupational groups like special forces personnel.

His recent publications (2022-2024) demonstrate a strong focus on longitudinal studies of youth athletes, with particular attention to how aerobic fitness and muscle oxygenation evolve during development. These studies employ advanced measurement techniques including near-infrared spectroscopy for real-time muscle oxygenation assessment during exercise.

Prinz has contributed to significant research projects including:

• Carbon shoes (2025-2026): Investigating physiological responses to advanced running footwear
• Muscle deoxygenation in youth athletes (2017-2025): Longitudinal study of oxygen extraction changes
• Critical power in laboratory and field conditions (2016-2025): Methodological comparisons
• Special forces Ministry of the Interior (2017-2023): Training intervention effects

His research has practical applications for coaches, sports scientists, and occupational health professionals seeking to optimize training programs and understand physiological adaptation processes. Prinz's work bridges theoretical exercise physiology with real-world performance applications across diverse athletic and occupational settings.