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Purpose: This study investigated whether regular precooling would help to maintain day-to-day training intensity and improve 20-km cycling time trial (TT) performed in the heat. Twenty males cycled for 10 day × 60 min at perceived exertion equivalent to 15 in the heat (35 °C, 50% relative humidity), preceded by no cooling (CON, n = 10) or 30-min water immersion at 22 °C (PRECOOL, n = 10)., Methods: 19 participants (n = 9 and 10 for CON and PRECOOL, respectively) completed heat stress tests (25-min at 60% [Formula: see text] and 20-km TT) before and after heat acclimation., Results: Changes in mean power output (∆MPO, P = 0.024) and heart rate (∆HR, P = 0.029) during heat acclimation were lower for CON (∆MPO - 2.6 ± 8.1%, ∆HR - 7 ± 7 bpm), compared with PRECOOL (∆MPO + 2.9 ± 6.6%, ∆HR - 1 ± 8 bpm). HR during constant-paced cycling was decreased from the pre-acclimation test in both groups (P < 0.001). Only PRECOOL demonstrated lower rectal temperature (T re ) during constant-paced cycling (P = 0.002) and lower T re threshold for sweating (P = 0.042). However, skin perfusion and total sweat output did not change in either CON or PRECOOL (all P > 0.05). MPO (P = 0.016) and finish time (P = 0.013) for the 20-km TT were improved in PRECOOL but did not change in CON (P = 0.052 for MPO, P = 0.140 for finish time)., Conclusion: Precooling maintains day-to-day training intensity and does not appear to attenuate adaptation to training in the heat.

Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of ice slushy ingestion (ICE) and cold water immersion (CWI) on thermoregulatory and sweat responses during constant (study 1) and self-paced (study 2) exercise. In study 1, 11 men cycled at 40-50% of peak aerobic power for 60 min (33.2 ± 0.3°C, 45.9 ± 0.5% relative humidity, RH). In study 2, 11 men cycled for 60 min at perceived exertion (RPE) equivalent to 15 (33.9 ± 0.2°C and 42.5 ± 3.9%RH). In both studies, each trial was preceded by 30 min of CWI (~22°C), ICE or no cooling (CON). Rectal temperature (Tre), skin temperature (Tsk), thermal sensation, and sweat responses were measured. In study 1, ICE decreased Tre-Tsk gradient versus CON (p = 0.005) during first 5 min of exercise, while CWI increased Tre-Tsk gradient versus CON and ICE for up to 20 min during the exercise (p<0.05). In study 2, thermal sensation was lower in CWI versus CON and ICE for up to 35-40 min during the exercise (p<0.05). ICE reduced thermal sensation versus CON during the first 20 min of exercise (p<0.05). In study 2, CWI improved mean power output (MPO) by ~8 W, compared with CON only (p = 0.024). In both studies, CWI (p<0.001) and ICE (p = 0.019) delayed sweating by 1-5 min but did not change the body temperature sweating threshold, compared with CON (both p>0.05). Increased Tre-Tsk gradient by CWI improved MPO while ICE reduced Tre but did not confer any ergogenic effect. Both precooling treatments attenuated the thermal efferent signals until a specific body temperature threshold was reached., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

This review evaluated the effects of precooling via cold water immersion (CWI) and ingestion of ice slurry/slushy or crushed ice (ICE) on endurance performance measures (e.g. time-to-exhaustion and time trials) and psychophysiological parameters (core [Tcore] and skin [Tskin] temperatures, whole body sweat [WBS] response, heart rate [HR], thermal sensation [TS], and perceived exertion [RPE]). Twenty-two studies were included in the meta-analysis based on the following criteria: (i) cooling was performed before exercise with ICE or CWI; (ii) exercise longer than 6 min was performed in ambient temperature ≥26°C; and (iii) crossover study design with a non-cooling passive control condition. CWI improved performance measures (weighted average effect size in Hedges' g [95% confidence interval] + 0.53 [0.28; 0.77]) and resulted in greater increase (ΔEX) in Tskin (+4.15 [3.1; 5.21]) during exercise, while lower peak Tcore (-0.93 [-1.18; -0.67]), WBS (-0.74 [-1.18; -0.3]), and TS (-0.5 [-0.8; -0.19]) were observed without concomitant changes in ΔEX-Tcore (+0.19 [-0.22; 0.6]), peak Tskin (-0.67 [-1.52; 0.18]), peak HR (-0.14 [-0.38; 0.11]), and RPE (-0.14 [-0.39; 0.12]). IcE had no clear effect on performance measures (+0.2 [-0.07; 0.46]) but resulted in greater ΔEX-Tcore (+1.02 [0.59; 1.45]) and ΔEX-Tskin (+0.34 [0.02; 0.67]) without concomitant changes in peak Tcore (-0.1 [-0.48; 0.28]), peak Tskin (+0.1 [-0.22; 0.41]), peak HR (+0.08 [-0.19; 0.35]), WBS (-0.12 [-0.42; 0.18]), Ts (-0.2 [-0.49; 0.1]), and RpE (-0.01 [-0.33; 0.31]). From both ergogenic and thermoregulatory perspectives, cWI may be more effective than ICE as a precooling treatment prior to exercise in the heat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]