ENDURANCE TRAINING AND CLIMATE: EFFECTS OF TRAINING UNDER SIMULTANEOUS COLD ADAPTATION ON MUSCLE METABOLISM

Journal/Book: l3th International Congress of Biometeorology Abstract Voluml Calgary Alberta Canada 1993. 1993;

Abstract: Angela Schuh Institute of Medical Balneology and Climatology University of Munich Munich Germany Several studies documented an immediate reaction of heart rate during physical work under the influence of cold. But there has yet no research been done on the phenomenon of the immediate reaction on the aerobic muscle metabolism under these conditions. No relevant studies can be found in the literature about a relationship between the process of a developing state of endurance training under simultaneous exposure to cold in the sense of a cross adaptation or an additive effect. So far no author could point out whether the adaptation to a cool environment during endurance training goes along with an increased efficacy. The goal of this study was to quantify the improvement of aerobic performance by endurance training with and without cooling of body shell. To do this terrain training lasting three weeks is conducted: with one group of the test subjects (n = 63) the body shell was kept cool during the training; the skin temperature was lowered by 2°C. The control group (n = 61) did terrain training under thermally balanced conditions. The actual aerobic fitness and the effect of endurance training under thermal conditions was evaluated using ergometric tests taken at the beginning and at the end of the therapy. The results showed that reduced skin temperature during work has two effects on the muscle metabolism: (a) As an immediate effect the actual aerobic capacity of muscle metabolism increased. Doing the same work the lactate concentration is significantly (p < 0.01) lower under cool conditions by 0.4 mmol l-1. (b) In the long term the training effect is almost doubled by the cold induced improvement of aerobic metabolism. The subjects who trained under lowered skin temperature showed a significantly (p < 0.01 ) higher training effect than the control group by 1 mmol l-1. (c) The increase of the muscle metabolism's aerobic capacity because of the cool body shell makes the actual aerobic mastering of work easier and doubles the endurance training effect.

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