TY - JOUR
T1 - Heat alleviation strategies for athletic performance
T2 - A review and practitioner guidelines
AU - Gibson, Oliver R.
AU - James, Carl A.
AU - Mee, Jessica A.
AU - Willmott, Ashley G. B.
AU - Turner, Gareth
AU - Hayes, Mark
AU - Maxwell, Neil S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2020/1
Y1 - 2020/1
N2 - International competition inevitably presents logistical challenges
for athletes. Events such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games require
further consideration given historical climate data suggest athletes
will experience significant heat stress. Given the expected climate,
athletes face major challenges to health and performance. With this in
mind, heat alleviation strategies should be a fundamental consideration.
This review provides a focused perspective of the relevant literature
describing how practitioners can structure male and female athlete
preparations for performance in hot, humid conditions. Whilst scientific
literature commonly describes experimental work, with a primary focus
on maximizing magnitudes of adaptive responses, this may sacrifice
ecological validity, particularly for athletes whom must balance
logistical considerations aligned with integrating environmental
preparation around training, tapering and travel plans. Additionally,
opportunities for sophisticated interventions may not be possible in the
constrained environment of the athlete village or event arenas. This
review therefore takes knowledge gained from robust experimental work,
interprets it and provides direction on how practitioners/coaches can
optimize their athletes’ heat alleviation strategies. This review
identifies two distinct heat alleviation themes that should be
considered to form an individualized strategy for the athlete to enhance
thermoregulatory/performance physiology. First, chronic heat
alleviation techniques are outlined, these describe interventions such
as heat acclimation, which are implemented pre, during and post-training
to prepare for the increased heat stress. Second, acute heat
alleviation techniques that are implemented immediately prior to, and
sometimes during the event are discussed.Abbreviations:
CWI: Cold water immersion; HA: Heat acclimation; HR: Heart rate; HSP:
Heat shock protein; HWI: Hot water immersion; LTHA: Long-term heat
acclimation; MTHA: Medium-term heat acclimation; ODHA: Once-daily heat
acclimation; RH: Relative humidity; RPE: Rating of perceived exertion;
STHA: Short-term heat acclimation; TCORE: Core temperature; TDHA: Twice-daily heat acclimation; TS: Thermal sensation; TSKIN: Skin temperature; V̇O2max: Maximal oxygen uptake; WGBT: Wet bulb globe temperature
AB - International competition inevitably presents logistical challenges
for athletes. Events such as the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games require
further consideration given historical climate data suggest athletes
will experience significant heat stress. Given the expected climate,
athletes face major challenges to health and performance. With this in
mind, heat alleviation strategies should be a fundamental consideration.
This review provides a focused perspective of the relevant literature
describing how practitioners can structure male and female athlete
preparations for performance in hot, humid conditions. Whilst scientific
literature commonly describes experimental work, with a primary focus
on maximizing magnitudes of adaptive responses, this may sacrifice
ecological validity, particularly for athletes whom must balance
logistical considerations aligned with integrating environmental
preparation around training, tapering and travel plans. Additionally,
opportunities for sophisticated interventions may not be possible in the
constrained environment of the athlete village or event arenas. This
review therefore takes knowledge gained from robust experimental work,
interprets it and provides direction on how practitioners/coaches can
optimize their athletes’ heat alleviation strategies. This review
identifies two distinct heat alleviation themes that should be
considered to form an individualized strategy for the athlete to enhance
thermoregulatory/performance physiology. First, chronic heat
alleviation techniques are outlined, these describe interventions such
as heat acclimation, which are implemented pre, during and post-training
to prepare for the increased heat stress. Second, acute heat
alleviation techniques that are implemented immediately prior to, and
sometimes during the event are discussed.Abbreviations:
CWI: Cold water immersion; HA: Heat acclimation; HR: Heart rate; HSP:
Heat shock protein; HWI: Hot water immersion; LTHA: Long-term heat
acclimation; MTHA: Medium-term heat acclimation; ODHA: Once-daily heat
acclimation; RH: Relative humidity; RPE: Rating of perceived exertion;
STHA: Short-term heat acclimation; TCORE: Core temperature; TDHA: Twice-daily heat acclimation; TS: Thermal sensation; TSKIN: Skin temperature; V̇O2max: Maximal oxygen uptake; WGBT: Wet bulb globe temperature
KW - Heat acclimation
KW - heat acclimatization
KW - thermoregulation
KW - cooling
KW - adaptation
KW - athlete
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074339048&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/23328940.2019.1666624
DO - 10.1080/23328940.2019.1666624
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85074339048
SN - 2332-8940
VL - 7
SP - 3
EP - 36
JO - Temperature
JF - Temperature
IS - 1
ER -