A rethinking of current heat-acclimation strategies is required as most research and advice for improving physiological strain in the heat includes maintaining hydration using long-term acclimation protocols (>10 days). Furthermore, these strategies have tended to use untrained and moderately trained participants. Therefore, the aims of this review were to (i) investigate the effectiveness of short-term heat acclimation (STHA) with moderately and highly trained athletes; (ii) determine the importance of fluid regulatory strain, which has a thermally independent role in heat adaptation; (iii) assess the impact of STHA on a marker of thermotolerance (inducible heat-shock protein 70 [HSP70]); and (iv) provide further information on the decay of acclimation to heat. The review suggests that 5-day STHA is effective, and adaptations may be more pronounced after fluid regulatory strain from a dehydration-acclimation regimen. Furthermore, highly trained athletes may have similar physiological gains to those who are less trained using STHA. However, research has tended to focus on untrained or moderately trained participants and more information is required for highly trained populations. HSP70 response is upregulated across STHA. This indicates increased thermotolerance and protective adaptive change that may indicate HSP70 response as a useful marker of heat acclimation. Physiological adaptations after heat acclimation are relatively short term and may vanish only a few days or weeks after removal from heat exposure. From a practical perspective 5-day STHA may be the preferred acclimation regimen for moderately and highly trained athletes as it has been shown to be effective, less expensive and less likely to disrupt the tapering for competition in elite performers. Furthermore, updated information on the time course of acclimation decay may allow a reliable estimate of how long individuals can be free from heat exposure before reacclimation is required. This is particularly pertinent in present times as many athletes, civilians and military personnel increasingly have to relocate to different climates of the world, often within a short period of time.

Short-term (5-day) heat acclimation induced effective adaptations, some of which were more pronounced after fluid-regulatory strain from permissive dehydration, and not attributable to dehydration effects on body temperature.

Abstract:Most advice for heat adaptation is to use long-term (>10 d) regimes, in which hydration status is maintained. We tested the hypothesis that short-term (5-day) heat acclimation would confer substantial improvements in physiological strain and exercise tolerance for exercise in the heat, and fluid regulatory strain provides a thermally-independent stimulus for such adaptations. Ten moderately-fit males were heat acclimated using controlled hyperthermia (rectal temperature 38.5°C) for 90 min on five consecutive days (T a = 40°C, 60% RH), on two occasions separated by a five-week washout, in a randomly assigned, cross-over design; one with euhydration (EUH) and one with dehydration (DEH) during acclimation bouts. One week before, then on the 2 nd day after each acclimation regime, a heat stress test (HST) was completed, comprising cycling at 40% peak power output for 90 min (T a = 35°C, 60% RH), before incrementing to exhaustion. Plasma volume (PV) at rest was measured using CO rebreathing. Acclimation exercise-induced response of[aldo] p became more pronounced across DEH (  178 pg . mL -1 ; 95%CI: 33 to 324) but not EUH (  -47 pg . mL -1 : -209 to 115) and this difference was significant (P=0.02).Compared to EUH, permissive DEH during acclimation bouts conferred larger acclimation-induced increases in resting PV (4.1%: -1.5 to 9.8%; P=0.06), F Q  (4.2: 0.7 to 7.8 ml . min -1. 100 ml -1 ; P=0.009), FVC (0.06: 0.02 to 0.10 ml . 100ml Tissue -1. min -1. mmHg -1 ; P=0.006) and decreased end-exercise c f by 17% (19: -29 to 9 b·min-1; P=0.05). In conclusion, short-term (5-day) heat acclimation was effective with several adaptations more pronounced after fluid-regulatory strain from a dehydration acclimation regime.

Effectiveness of short-term acclimation has generally been undertaken using untrained and moderately-trained participants. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of short-term (5-day) heat acclimation on highly trained athletes. Eight males (mean ± SD age 21.8 ± 2.1 years, mass 75.2 ± 4.6 kg, VO(2peak) 4.9 ± 0.2 L min(-1) and power output 400 ± 27 W) were heat acclimated under controlled hyperthermia (rectal temperature 38.5 °C), for 90-min on five consecutive days (T(a) = 39.5 °C, 60% relative humidity). Acclimation was undertaken with dehydration (no fluid-intake) during daily bouts. Participants completed a rowing-specific, heat stress test (HST) 1 day before and after acclimation (T(a) = 35 °C, 60% relative humidity). HST consisted 10-min rowing at 30% peak power output (PPO), 10 min at 60% PPO and 5-min rest before a 2-km performance test, without feedback cues. Participants received 250 mL fluid (4% carbohydrate; osmolality 240-270 mmol kg(-1)) before the HST. Body mass loss during acclimation bouts was 1.6 ± 0.3 kg (2.1%) on day 1 and 2.3 ± 0.4 kg (3.0%) on day 5. In contrast, resting plasma volume increased by 4.5 ± 4.5% from day 1 to 5 (estimated from [Hb] & Hct). Plasma aldosterone increased at rest (52.6 pg mL(-1); p = 0.03) and end-exercise (162.4 pg mL(-1); p = 0.00) from day 1 to 5 acclimation. During the HST T(re) and f(c) were lowered 0.3 °C (p = 0.00) and 14 b min(-1) (p = 0.00) after 20-min exercise. The 2-km performance time (6.52.7 min) improved by 4 s (p = 0.00). Meaningful physiological and performance improvements occurred for highly trained athletes using a short-term (5-day) heat acclimation under hyperthermia control, with dehydration.

PlayerLoad and its individual planes are reliable measures during SAFT90 and detected within-match changes in movement strategy when the unit was placed at the COM, which may have implications for fatigue management. Inferring alterations in lower-limb movement strategies from MEMS units positioned at the SCAP should be undertaken with caution.

Locomotor efficiency is lower during the latter stages of each half of competitive soccer match-play, a trend synonymous with observations of increased injury incidence and fatigue in these periods. Locomotor efficiency may be a valuable metric to identify fatigue and heightened injury risk during soccer training and match-play.

This study assessed the contribution of relative age, anthropometry, maturation, and physical fitness characteristics on soccer playing position (goalkeeper [GK], central-defender [CD], lateral-defender [LD], central-midfield [CM], lateral-midfielder [LM], and forward [FWD]) for 465 elite-youth players (U13-U18's). U13-14 CD were relatively older than LD and CM ( small effects). CD and GK were generally taller and heavier ( small to moderate effects) than other players at each developmental stage and were advanced maturers at U13-14 ( small to moderate effects). GK had inferior agility ( small to moderate effects), endurance ( small to moderate effects), and sprint capacities ( small-moderate effects) vs. outfield positions at U13-14, but deficits in anaerobic phenotypes were diminished in U15-16 and U17-18. Position specific fitness characteristics were distinguished at U15-16 ( small) and U17-18 ( moderate), where LM were faster than their central counterparts. In summary, relative age, maturation and anthropometric characteristics appear to bias the allocation of players into key defensive roles from an early development stage, whereas position-specific physical attributes do not become apparent until the latter stages of talent development in outfield players. Given the inter-individual trajectories of physical development according to biological maturation, playing position allocation might be considered 'plastic' by selectors, until complete-maturity is achieved.

Abstract:Most advice for heat adaptation is to use long-term (>10 d) regimes, in which hydration status is maintained. We tested the hypothesis that short-term (5-day) heat acclimation would confer substantial improvements in physiological strain and exercise tolerance for exercise in the heat, and fluid regulatory strain provides a thermally-independent stimulus for such adaptations. Ten moderately-fit males were heat acclimated using controlled hyperthermia (rectal temperature 38.5°C) for 90 min on five consecutive days (T a = 40°C, 60% RH), on two occasions separated by a five-week washout, in a randomly assigned, cross-over design; one with euhydration (EUH) and one with dehydration (DEH) during acclimation bouts. One week before, then on the 2 nd day after each acclimation regime, a heat stress test (HST) was completed, comprising cycling at 40% peak power output for 90 min (T a = 35°C, 60% RH), before incrementing to exhaustion. Plasma volume (PV) at rest was measured using CO rebreathing. Acclimation exercise-induced response of In conclusion, short-term (5-day) heat acclimation was effective with several adaptations more pronounced after fluid-regulatory strain from a dehydration acclimation regime.