22. HEAT TRAINING BOOSTS TRAINING ADAPTATIONS AND PERFORMANCE!

Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

In the previous posts we saw that:

1. High environmental temperatures decrease performance in pro men and women road cyclists. (Read more here)

2. Using a pre-cooling jacket increases performance above ~27 °C. (Read more here)

So, when racing we want to avoid excessive heat.

But when we train we aren’t always looking for max performance during the training day/s, but for gaining physiological adaptations (increase mitochondria, haemoglobin, …) to use then in race.

While in past years high altitude has been considered the only environmental condition boosting endurance training adaptations, in the last years heat has gained more and more attention among exercise physiologists and coaches.

Does heat training boost endurance training adaptations?

Have a look at these interesting data published by Ed Maunder (Auckland University of Technology New Zealand, he was my supervisor during the final year of my PhD) and Colleagues on Physiological Reports (1) in 2021.