Effect of hand cooling on thermal and psychophysical strain and performance during high intensity intermittent training of elite swimmers
Date
2010-01-25T16:44:55Z
Authors
Zochowski, Thomas
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Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of using intermittent hand cooling during high intensity, intermittent training on measures of thermoregulatory, performance and psychophysical variables in elite level swimmers in warm pools (30.50.5°C). Following a standard warm-up, ten male swimmers (20.3±3.2 yrs) were instructed to maintain the fastest average 100m time for an 8x 100m freestyle swimming set separated in a cool pool (CP), warm pool with cooling (WPC), and warm pool with no-cooling (WPNC). Time at 50m and 100m, core temperature (Tc), and heart rate (HR), as well as the rate of perceived exertion (RPE), thermal comfort (ThC) and thermal sensation (ThS) were recorded following each repetition. Participants were cooled during the 90 second rest interval between repetitions using the Rapid Thermal Exchange (RTX) [AVAcore Technologies Inc., Ann Arbor, MI]. There was a significant increase in performance when comparing the second 50m split time (1.16 ± 1.58s ) and 100m time (1.50 ± 1.98s) for the final repetition in the WPC condition compared to the final repetition in the WPNC condition (p<0.05). FIR, ThC and ThS were lower in the CP condition than the WPC and WPNC conditions (p<0.05). There was no significant difference in Tc and RPE between conditions. It was concluded that the results may be due to a placebo effect and at this time there appears no physiological or psychophysical advantage in using the RTX during high intensity, intermittent training of elite swimmers.
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Keywords
swimming, training, physiological aspects