The Effects of Daily Cold-Water Recovery and Postexercise Hot-Water Immersion on Training-Load Tolerance During 5 Days of Heat-Based Training
in International Journal of Sports Physiology and PerformancePurpose: To examine the effects of daily cold- and hot-water recovery on training load (TL) during 5 days of heat-based training. Methods: Eight men completed 5 days of cycle training for 60 minutes (50% peak power output) in 4 different conditions in a block counter-balanced-order design. Three conditions were completed in the heat (35°C) and 1 in a thermoneutral environment (24°C; CON). Each day after cycling, participants completed 20 minutes of seated rest (CON and heat training [HT]) or cold- (14°C; HTCWI) or hot-water (39°C; HTHWI) immersion. Heart rate, rectal temperature, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were collected during cycling. Session-RPE was collected 10 minutes after recovery for the determination of session-RPE TL. Data were analyzed using hierarchical regression in a Bayesian framework; Cohen d was calculated, and for session-RPE TL, the probability that d > 0.5 was also computed. Results: There was evidence that session-RPE TL was increased in HTCWI (d = 2.90) and HTHWI (d = 2.38) compared with HT. The probabilities that d > 0.5 were .99 and .96, respectively. The higher session-RPE TL observed in HTCWI coincided with a greater cardiovascular (d = 2.29) and thermoregulatory (d = 2.68) response during cycling than in HT. This result was not observed for HTHWI. Conclusion: These findings suggest that cold-water recovery may negatively affect TL during 5 days of heat-based training, hot-water recovery could increase session-RPE TL, and the session-RPE method can detect environmental temperature-mediated increases in TL in the context of this study.
Borg, Stewart, Osborne, and Minett are with the Inst of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Borg is with The Hopkins Centre: Research for Rehabilitation and Resilience, Menzies Health Inst Queensland, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Drovandi is with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers in Big Data, Big Models and New Insights, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; and the School of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Costello is with Extreme Environments Laboratory, Dept of Sport and Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom. Stanley is with Performance Services, South Australian Sports Inst, Adelaide, SA, Australia; and the School of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
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