title: Lower skin temperature decreases maximal cycling performance.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  It is known that external cooling of body regions involved in exercise, prior to exercise, decreases anaerobic performance. However, there have been no studies reporting the effects of whole body skin surface cooling before exercise on maximal anaerobic capacity. In order to clarify the effects, we compared power output during the Wingate anaerobic test between preconditioning by exposure to temperature 10 degrees C and 25 degrees C.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eight healthy males carried out the Wingate test for 30 seconds, after pre-conditioning for 60 minutes using a perfusion suit with water at a temperature of 10 degrees C or 25 degrees C. We evaluated the peak power (PP) and peak power slope (PS) of the power output.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mean skin temperature (T(sk)) at 60 minutes of pre-conditioning in the 10 degrees C trial was significantly lower than in the 25 degrees C trial (p < 0.05). PP and also PS were significantly lower in the 10 degrees C trial than in the 25 degrees C trial. Changes (Δ) in PP between the 10 degrees C trial and the 25 degrees C trial were strongly correlated with ΔT(sk) and Δ in thigh and leg skin temperature (ΔT(thigh) and ΔT(leg), respectively), whereas ΔPS was strongly correlated with ΔT(sk), but not with ΔT(thigh) and ΔT(leg).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Whole body skin surface cooling prior to exercise restricts anaerobic capacity, especially in the initial phase of exercise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Physiology for Exercise, Osaka City University, Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Daiki
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Imai
authors.forename: Kazunobu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okazaki
authors.forename: Shinya
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Matsumura
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Taiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyazawa
authors.forename: Akina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Ryosuke
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Takeshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hamamoto
authors.forename: Tetsuo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zako
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kawabata
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyagawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001642:Bicycling; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005080:Exercise Test; D006439:Hemodynamics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018763:Muscle Fatigue; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010807:Physical Endurance; D012123:Pulmonary Ventilation; D012119:Respiration; D012881:Skin Temperature; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult