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Eur J Appl Physiol (2013) 113:371384 DOI 10.1007/s00421-012-2445-2
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Consecutive days of cold water immersion: effects on cycling performance and heart rate variability
Jamie Stanley Jonathan M. Peake
Martin Buchheit
Received: 22 February 2012 / Accepted: 14 June 2012 / Published online: 3 July 2012 Springer-Verlag 2012
Abstract We investigated performance and heart rate (HR) variability (HRV) over consecutive days of cycling with post-exercise cold water immersion (CWI) or passive recovery (PAS). In a crossover design, 11 cyclists completed two separate 3-day training blocks (120 min cycling per day, 66 maximal sprints, 9 min time trialling [TT]), followed by 2 days of recovery-based training. The cyclists recovered from each training session by standing in cold water (10 C) or at room temperature (27 C) for 5 min.
Mean power for sprints, total TT work and HR were assessed during each session. Resting vagal-HRV (natural logarithm of square-root of mean squared differences of successive RR intervals; ln rMSSD) was assessed after exercise, after the recovery intervention, during sleep and upon waking. CWI allowed better maintenance of mean sprint power (between-trial difference [90 % condence limits] ?12.4 % [5.9; 18.9]), cadence (?2.0 % [0.6; 3.5]), and mean HR during exercise (?1.6 % [0.0; 3.2]) compared with PAS. ln rMSSD immediately following CWI
was higher (?144 % [92; 211]) compared with PAS. There was no difference between the trials in TT performance (-0.2 % [-3.5; 3.0]) or waking ln rMSSD (-1.2 % [-5.9;3.4]). CWI helps to maintain sprint performance during consecutive days of training, whereas its effects on vagal-HRV vary over time and depend on prior exercise intensity.
Keywords Autonomic nervous system
Training block High-intensity cycling Sprints
Post-exercise recovery Hydrotherapy
AbbreviationsCI Condence interval CWI Cold water immersion ES Effect sizeHR Heart rateHR(ave) Mean heart rate
HR(peak) Peak heart rate
HR(post-recovery) Heart rate immediately following
the recovery intervention HR(post-session) Heart rate immediately following
the laboratory training session HR(wake) Heart rate upon waking
HRV Heart rate variabilityln rMSSD Natural logarithm of the square-root of mean squared differences of successive RR intervalsln rMSSD(post-session) ln rMSSD immediately following
the laboratory training sessionln rMSSD(post-recovery) ln rMSSD immediately following
the recovery interventionln rMSSD(sleep) ln rMSSD during estimated slow
wave sleepln rMSSD(wake) ln rMSSD upon waking
PAS Passive recovery
Communicated by Narihiko Kondo.
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