Heat alleviation strategies for athletic performance: A review and practitioner guidelines

Abstract

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 posttraining 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.

Performance Changes Following Heat Acclimation and the Factors That Influence These Changes: Meta-Analysis and Meta-Regression

“…While recent evidence suggests that peak internal body temperatures of 39°C are not more advantageous than the traditional isothermal temperature of 38.5°C (Gibson et al, 2015b, 2019), there are perhaps greater improvements with increased levels of hyperthermia (>39.0°C), especially in elite level athletes. Data from the Union Cycliste Internationale Road Cycling World Championship demonstrated the capability of elite level athletes to tolerate internal body temperatures well above what is often reported in the HA literature (as high as 41.5°C), however, future research is needed in this area.…”

Menthol as an Ergogenic Aid for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games: An Expert-Led Consensus Statement Using the Modified Delphi Method

“…It is noteworthy within rinsing protocols that a clear dose-response has yet to be identified, and thus, individual approaches are warranted above pursuing a 'more is better' approach [11]. As with thermal cooling strategies, the influence of perceptual cooling on pacing and subsequent thermoregulatory responses, i.e., increased self-selected work rate, and concurrent increases in heat production should also be examined [27]. Perceptual cooling via menthol should not be seen as an alternative to thermal cooling based on the potential to induce reductions in perceived temperature.…”

An Updated Panorama of “Living Low-Training High” Altitude/Hypoxic Methods

“…Although this is beyond the scope of this perspective article, there are various options for applying an hypoxic stimuli together with other environmental stressors—i.e., hot/humid air (heat stress; Takeno et al, 2001 ) or O 2 -enriched air (hyperoxia; Brinkmann et al, 2018 )—otherwise known to independently improve physical performance (Millet et al, 2010 ; Gibson et al, 2019 ). In doing so, however, it is important to verify that absolute training quality is not blunted due to exacerbated fatigue development.…”