RAPID COOLING BENEFITS PERFORMANCE IN THE HEAT

Casa, D. J., McClung, J. M., Knight, J. C., Goss, P. J., Hipp, G. R., Harvard, W. R., & Clements, J. M. (2000). Body cooling between two bouts of exercise in the heat enhances performance during the second bout. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 32(5), Supplement abstract 825.

Heat-acclimated runners (N = 15) completed a hilly trail run (~19 km; ~86 min) in the heat (27 degrees Celsius) at an individually selected comfortable pace on three occasions one week apart. Treatments were administered and completed 15 minutes before each trial. The treatments were as follows.

Cold-water immersion was found to produce performance and physiological improvements that were better than the ice-cold or mock-immersion treatments.

Implication. Rapid, but not radical, cooling can benefit a second performance in the heat.

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