Andrea Zignoli is the inventor of the Athletica Workout Reserve and a scientific collaborator at Athletica. He holds a PhD in Sports Science from the University of Verona and an M.Eng. in Mechatronics from the University of Trento. He has held post-doctoral research positions at the University of Trento in sport performance modelling and at Yokohama National University in rehabilitation robotics, and is an Associate Editor at Sports Engineering (Springer). He works as an independent AI sport tech consultant and is based in Verona, Italy.
His work sits between physiological modelling and production software. He builds first principles models and machine learning systems for training prescription, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, continuous glucose monitoring and pacing strategy, and deploys them as working code. At Athletica he leads the modelling behind Workout Reserve and contributes to the platform's physiological engine.
He conceived Workout Reserve and spent four years developing it with professional cycling coaches and the Athletica team before publishing the validation study in the European Journal of Sport Science and the real time algorithm in Sports Engineering.
Selected publications
- Zignoli A, Giorgi A, Kolodziej F, Martinez-Gonzalez B, Leo P, Laursen PB. Tracking Performance Limits Using Multi-Timescale Maximal Mean Power Ratios. European Journal of Sport Science. 2026:e70179. doi:10.1002/ejsc.70179
- Zignoli A, Whitehurst P. Real-time assessment of exercising maximal mean power and speed in endurance sports: a Garmin Connect IQ App. Sports Engineering. 2025;28:45. doi:10.1007/s12283-025-00528-1
- AI-Driven Analysis of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Tests to Identify Gas Exchange and Ventilatory Thresholds. Sports Medicine. 2026. doi:10.1007/s40279-026-02403-w
Athletica Methodology
Andrea has authored or reviewed the following pages in the Athletica Methodology Hub:
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