Heat-suit Endurance Training Clinical Trial
Official title:
Effects of Heat-suit Training on Training-associated Changes in Hemoglobin Mass, Muscle Characteristics and Endurance Performance in Elite Cyclists
The overall objective of the study is to investigate the effects of five weeks of heat-suit training on training-associated changes in hemoglobin mass, skeletal muscle characteristics and endurance exercise performance in elite cyclists
Endurance exercise performance depends on a range of determinants, including hemoglobin mass in blood and content of respiratory mitochondria in skeletal muscle. Low-intensity training (LIT) with heat exposure may be beneficial for development of these variables. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of five weeks of LIT-training with heat suit (five times a week; 50 min per session) on hemoglobin mass and other blood characteristics in elite cyclists (males and females) compared to a non-heat-suit training control group, including subsequent investigation of the retrograde effects of ~one month of training without heat suit. The study will also investigate the effects of heat-suit training on endurance exercise performance/performance determinants and other muscle biological charateristics, and will investigate the basic characteristics of mitochondrial function and abundances in these highly trained athletes. Training sessions with heat suit (or lack thereof) will complement the habitual training routines of the participants. ;