Exercise in the Cold

Question 1

Parkin et al (1998)

Answer 1

• 7 athletes cycling until exhaustion at 70% Vo2max in; 3°C, 20°C and 40°C.
• TTE in the cold trial was 30% longer than the normal trial

Limitation:
- Participants had the same rectal core temperature at the start of exercise and therefore weren’t acclimatised to the conditions. Meaning the study lacked ecological validity.

Question 2

Nadal et al (1974)

Answer 2

• Swimming in the cold
• Athletes swam in; 18°C, 24°C and 33°C water.
• Sub-maximal oxygen uptake was increased in the cold trial, meaning subjects were working harder to take in oxygen

Why?

• Lower muscle blood flow
• Force generation lower in the muscle

Question 3

Sandsund et al (1998)

Answer 3

• 8 cross-country skiers completed incremental step test to exhaustion at either; 23°C or -15°C
• TTE in the cold was impaired by 23%
• Increase sub-ax Vo2, Ve and lactate threshold
• Decreased max Ve

Study also compared Salbutamol vs Placebo in the cold
- TTE was increase in Salbutamol group

Question 4

Finch et al (2008)

Answer 4

• Cold, dry air is an agents
• Repeated exposure to the cold promotes COPD-like conditions
• 40% of winter Olympic athletes used inhalers when only 33% are asthmatic
• Significantly increase in gold medals for asthmatic athletes in winter vs summer Olympics

Question 5

Cold hands…

Answer 5

• Hands compose 9% of the body surface areas
• When blood flow is reduced to the hands, thermal insulation is increase by 300%
• Cold hands could have implications in sports such as rub and cricket

Question 6

Cheug et al (2003)

Answer 6

• Immersion of hands and forearms in 10°C water

- Impaired cognitive function by 64% when hands had only been immersed in water for 30 seconds

Question 7

Makanin et al (2006)

Answer 7

• 10 males (BF=17) was exposed to 10°C water for 2 hour per day for 10 days
• Performance of cognitive tasks was worse in cold group
• There was an increase in scores of cognitive tests, unsure whether this is through adaptation to the cold or improvement at the test

Question 8

Brenner et al (1999)

Answer 8

• 2 hours of cold air exposure (5°C) after 1 hour of exercise vs rest
• Tcore significantly reduced after exercise
• Exercises increases susceptibility to the cold - which could have impacts for repeated exposure sports

Question 9

Mohr et al (2004)

Answer 9

• “Re-warm up” at half time of a football match
• 1 group completed 7 mins of passive half time warm-up and 1 group completed moderate intensity exercise (HR = 135bmp)
• Significantly increased Tcore after moderate intensity re-warm up

Significantly increase sprint performance at the start of second half after re-warm up

Question 10

Webber and Harman (2005)

Answer 10

• CHO is the main fuel for shivering
• High-intsnity shivering, resulting in warming up the Tcore was only elicited when athletes were fully saturated with CHO