[a-and]

I'm someone who's been seriously active in powerlifting for years and I was getting ready to argue, but you seem to be correct. Not only was I not able to find research supporting CNS fatigue, Menno Henselmans himself(quoted in the article) agrees https://mennohenselmans.com/cns-fatigue/.

What I have anecdotally observed is that regularly lifting closely to your maximum (particularly at higher levels) will inevitably lead to accumulated fatigue. Whatever the root cause of that fatigue is (whether muscoskeletal, endocrine or nervous) is a factor that does lead to degraded performance over time.

The literature is lacking in longer-term studies, so I'm curious to see whether my anecdotal experience is pure confirmation bias or there is a mechanism behind it.

[ubercore]

I don't think it seems to be that clear cut, but the consensus does seem to show it's not a huge driver. More anecdotally though, to my original point, I really do need some brain rest in addition to just muscle fatigue between hard lifts.