Investigating the lower ambient temperature threshold for pre-cooling to be beneficial for athletic performance

Introduction: When exercising in the heat, performance is deteriorated. It has been shown that pre-cooling can counteract this deterioration in the heat [1], but it is unclear what the effects of pre-cooling on performance are in temperate environments. Thus, the current study was performed to see if there is any difference in performance with pre-cooling at 24 °C and 27 °C, and thus if there is a threshold in environmental temperature above which pre-cooling becomes beneficial to performance. We hypothesised pre-cooling to enhance performance at both environmental temperatures.