There have been many advances in Sports Medicine and Performance.

Diet, Sleep and Skill teaching have all advanced with increased knowledge and technology. So where now? I imagine you would be surprised if I said it is.... Temperature.

Temperature Management Improves Performance

Bioscientists specialising in Temperature, have studied how it can improve performance. One such Scientist is Dr Craig Heller , the Professor of Biology at Stanford University. He recently appeared on a Huberman Lab podcast to discuss this at length.

Temperature Gates Performance

As you exercise your muscles perform work and release heat. This heat increase, will gate and limit your performance. Reducing this heat, will allow us to perform more and better. And we all want that.

Cooling also Reduces Soreness

Studies have also shown, that cooling both intra and post workout reduces the pain of DOMS. The small micro tears that occur with strenuous exercise can have a faster and less painful recovery if you use cooling. I applied therapy intra workout and had pain relief immediately and the day after.

Anyone who practises calisthenics, knows it can be painful, and this pain limits your workout and your progress. By cooling between sets you not only reset the temperature, which gates your muscle function, but you also reduce pain. And, as pain limits your workout, you can control this, exercise more, and that leads to faster progress. So now you have two modalities that are actively improved with cold therapy.

So How Can You Apply This?

The body has portals which specialise in heat transfer and they are located in specific sites of your skin, known as Glabrous skin.

The Glabrous areas of your body permit large amounts of heat transfer and they exist in the hands, feet and face.

Glabrous skin is non hairy skin, and has different blood vessel architecture allowing marked heat transfer. By removing heat from these areas you can dramatically reduce your core temperature.

Everyone exercises differently, so applying this knowledge is going to be difficult for some. I exercise at the beach and the water next to me is currently around 12-14 degrees Celsius. I have been dipping my whole body in for one minute, between sets of Forward roll Muscle ups on the rings.

I was able to double my output of forward rolls using this technique. Being able to double my workload means I will get stronger and learn the skill faster, as I'm doing more per workout.

Dr Heller's research found performance increases of 300% in fully optimised athletes performing dips and using Cold Therapy during the workout session.

I have found that swimming in unheated pools or the ocean is probably the best way to reduce heat. However, just immersing in water for 1 min and gently moving your hands and feet will achieve fantastic results.

There are alternative methods being developed by Dr Heller, called CoolMit's and I'm sure you will start to see more therapies developed in the future. You can see more in the references below.

Links and References

Whole-Body Cryotherapy in Athletes: From Therapy to Stimulation. An Updated Review of the Literature

Front Physiol. 2017; 8: 258.

Grahn DA, Murray JV, Heller HC. Cooling via one hand improves physical performance in heat-sensitive individuals with multiple sclerosis: a preliminary study. BMC Neurol. 2008 May 12;8:14.

https://hubermanlab.com/dr-craig-heller-using-temperature-for-performance-brain-and-body-health/

https://stanfordmag.org/contents/just-cool-it