Exercise Cooling Strategy Lab Report Assignment (Lab Report Sample)

EXERCISE COOLING STRATEGY
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EXERCISE COOLING STRATEGY
The study benefited with the findings of other researchers on the justification of cooling strategies. The reviewed journal articles analysed the efficiency of applied cooling strategies in hot weather on individuals’ heart rate, body temperature and exercise performance. According to the articles, application of cooling strategy fostered thermal reception and RPE benefits in fixed-intensity physical activities. There are various reasons behind cooling strategies. The physical performance of the body is positively correlate with the existing temperature. The rate of physical performance attenuates with the increasing level of temperature. To offset the situation, it is necessary to introduce the cooling strategies to promote endurance performance. The physiology behind the cooling strategy was to lower the initial body temperature of the exercise participants and increase the differences between the preliminary temperature and basic restraining temperature responsible for body exhaustion. The increase in margin between the temperatures restores the endurance capability during exercises in hot environments. The aim of the study was to provide a reliable analysis behind the importance of exercise in physiological context. The analysis involved the evaluation of critical clarification and assessment of data from exercise activities. The study relied on the hypotheses that the cooling effect increases athletes’ performances in competitions.
Methods
The study was conducted by a male student weighing 78kg with a height of 175cm. The student had a skill in cycling that played a good role in the experiment with wattbike as the measuring equipment. The method employed Michael, the student, as the subject to obtain physical exercise parameters such as heart rate. The student’s core temperature was at 360c and a heart rate of 68bpm before starting the exercise. He had containing 300ml of water to be used for precooling strategy before the exercise.
Wattbike is an indoor exercise bicycle that is mainly used by athletes for preparation of the cycling competitions. Wattbike measures a wide range of parameters essential for the evaluation of physical activities. The chosen equipment had a performance monitor that displayed all the results during the study The wattbike was introduced by the British cycling to help the cycling industry with affordable bike specialised for indoor training and performance of several tests required for carrying out different types of researches. The research was done by a wattbike Pro model due to its high to its resistance when applied in lower cadence. The model was the most favourable since its results mainly depends on the effort of the cyclist unlike the wattbike trainer, a model suitable for everyone.
Wattbike has various unique features that differentiate it from the normal bike. It has dual braking system that creates a sensation of pedalling on the level and climbing. Its magnetic braking system brings the feelings of climbing. The main distinguishing features between the two bikes is the ability of the wattbike to take accurate measures about the cycling activity.
The study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was to do the exercise without taking the 300ml of water for cooling. The participant relaxed after the first exercise through taking pre cooling strategy. The first exercise acted as a control to the second activity to realise the effect of cooling strategy to physical activities. The participant tabulated the results of the exercises in two tables for easier comparison. Operating the wattbike was very easy. The participant simply adjusted the wattbike in a correct posture of his body. Then he sat on the bike’s sit and used the its monitor to start the simple procedure. After placing himself in the right position, he selected the phrase ‘just ride’ from the main menu displayed in the monitor of the wattbike. The ‘just ride’ selection command was enough to start peddling the bike. Once the student started peddling the bike, the performance computer of the wattbike began displaying the feedback. The study was designed to take place in a duration of 20mins with measurements of several parameters such as RPE, distance covered, heart rate, change in room temperature and the CRTMP. The recording of the parameters took place in an interval of every five minutes until the twentieth minute in both phases of the exercise. Cooling effects in the study depended entirely on the participant. He had the freedom of creating the cooling strategies during the self-paced activities besides the major precooling activity by the 300ml of water. However, he had a choice of cycling the wattbike vigorously without the cooling effect. The recordings of the exercise reflected the cooling effect to the physical activities. The last recording of the experiment was taking of weights of the participant before and after the exercise.
Results
The results of the study showed that there was no change in weight after the two exercises since the participant weighed remained 78kg before and after the exercises. The RPE of the participant remain constant for the first 10minutes of the exercises before gaining a boost in the 15th minute from 11 to 12. However, the RPE dropped to 11 by the 20th minute of the exercise. According to the results displayed by the wattbike’s monitor, the first exercise took an average speed of 29.6km/h to cover to a distance 9.84km while the second took 30.3 km/h in 10.09km. the two exercises recorded the same rate of heartbeat of 108bpm. The first phase produced a lower average power of 112w against 120w in the second exercise. The rate of cadence increased from 84 rpm to 86 rpm. The results of the study were divided in an interval of four minutes for 20minutes and summarised in the three tables.
TABLE 1. Wattbike Pro exercise summary
Parameter/Duration

5minutes

10 minutes

15 minutes

20 minutes

RPE

11

11

12

11

Thermal

+1

+2

+2

+2

Distance

2.8km

4.9km

7.5km

9.84km

HR

102

105

106

139

CRTMP

36.1

36.5

36.7

36.4

ROOM TEMPERATURE

28.7

29.1

29.4

29.5

Table 2. Exercise Bike Results
Parameters

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Duration

20 minutes

20 minutes

Energy

843.7 KJ

880.0 kJ

Cadence

84 rpm

86 rpm

Speed avg.

29.6 km/h

30.3 km/h

Distance

9.84 km

10.09 km

HR avg.

108 bpm

108 bpm

Pace average

O2:00/km

01:57/km

Table 1. shows an average of the two exercises with the first ten minutes and the rest of the duration representing the outcome of the first and the second exercise respectively. Conversely, Table 2 represents the summary of the outcomes as per the recordings on the wattbike’s monitor.
Discussion
The results of the study prove that there is an effect of precooling to the physical performance of an individual (Stevens, et al. 2016). The precooling strategy has become dominant in the world of sports. The study of the strategy by other authors has led to the invention of various precooling strategies. In this case, the participant used two distinctive cooling strategies. Doing the first exercise without precooling recorded less distance coverage, lower speed and utilisation of less amount of energy compared to the second exercise after the precooling as seen from table 2. The participant used two precooling techniques in the second exercise that helped him to cover a bigger distance compared to his first performance. Taking of the 300ml of water helped him to boost his PDE from 11 to 12 as seen in table 1. Besides, the cooling effect of the water, the participant pedalled his wattbike in a slower pace compared to the first exercise. The reduction is played the same role as the 300ml water since it gave him time to relax and increase his PDE. The results of the study verified the hypotheses supporting the increase in performance rate of athletes with the application of the precooling strategy. However, the effectiveness of the cooling strategy stopped by the 20th minute reducing the PDE from 12 to 11. The results show that the cooling strategy is effective in promotion of endurance of vigorous activities for a certain duration where the body cannot attenuate the pressure of giving up due to excess fatigue. There was a change in the participant’s thermoregulation with the application of the cooling effect. The thermoregulatory response can be explained by physiological characteristics of the body. Taking a 300ml bottle of water affect the physiological response of the body directly as the water brought the cooling effect through increase sweating. The reducing of the cycling pace also contributed in the relaxing of the muscles.
The cooling strategy have been investigated and published by various authors in the past years. The earlier researchers found various method s of cooling strategies. According to the earlier findings, precooling effects can be achieved through various methods in hot locations such as immersion of the participants in water, usage of ice cubes to cool the body, exposure of people in cold air, wearing designed clothes for cooling effects and application of the combinations of the methods. The findings have proved that the cooling strategy facilitates good performance in physical activities in hot places. The effects of the cooling strategy can either take place dire...