Purpose
Cooling sensations elicited by mouth rinsing with L-menthol have been reported as ergogenic. Presently, responses to L-menthol mouth rinsing during intermittent sprint performance (ISP) in the heat are unknown and the impact of increased thermal perception on ISP via capsaicin has also not been quantified. This experiment aimed to identify whether eliciting cooling/warming sensations via L-menthol/capsaicin would alter ISP in the heat.
Method
Fourteen participants (mass = 72 ± 9 kg,
= 3.30 ± 0.90 L min
−1
), undertook four experimental trials, involving 40 min of ISP in hot conditions (40.2 ± 0.6 °C, 42 ± 2% R.H.) with mouth rinsing (25 mL, 6 s) at the protocol onset, and every 10 min thereafter. Cooling (0.01% L-menthol; MEN), warming (0.2% capsaicin; CAP), placebo (0.3 sham-CHO; PLA), and control (water; CON) mouth rinses were utilized. Performance was quantified via power (PP) and work done (WD) during sprints. Heart rate (HR), core (
T
rec
) and skin (
T
skin
) temperature, perceived exertion (RPE), thermal sensation (
T
sens
), and comfort (
T
com
) were measured at 10 min intervals. Sweat rate (whole-body sweat rate) was calculated from ∆mass.
Result
PP reduced over time (
P
< 0.05); however, no change was observed between trials for PP or WD (
P
> 0.05).
T
com
increased over time and was lower in MEN (2.7 ± 1.1;
P
< 0.05) with no difference between CAP (3.1 ± 1.2), PLA (3.2 ± 1.3) and CON (3.1 ± 1.3). RPE,
T
sens
HR,
T
rec
, and
T
skin
increased over time (
P
< 0.05) with no between trial differences (
P
> 0.05).
Conclusion
Despite improved thermal comfort via L-menthol, ISP did not improve. Capsaicin did not alter thermal perception or ISP. The reduction in ISP over time in hot conditions is not influenced by thermal perception.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1007/s00421-018-4055-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.