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No effect of repeated post-resistance exercise cold or hot water immersion on in-season body composition and performance responses in academy rugby players: a randomised controlled cross-over design

Horgan, BG; Halson, SL; Drinkwater, EJ; West, NP; Tee, N; Alcock, RD; Chapman, DW; Haff, GG

No effect of repeated post-resistance exercise cold or hot water immersion on in-season body composition and performance responses in academy rugby players: a randomised controlled cross-over design Thumbnail


Authors

BG Horgan

SL Halson

EJ Drinkwater

NP West

N Tee

RD Alcock

DW Chapman

GG Haff



Abstract

Following resistance exercise, uncertainty exists as to whether the regular application of cold water immersion attenuates lean muscle mass increases in athletes. The effects of repeated post-resistance exercise cold versus hot water immersion on body composition and neuromuscular jump performance responses in athletes were investigated. Male, academy Super Rugby players (n = 18, 19.9 ± 1.5 y, 1.85 ± 0.06 m, 98.3 ± 10.7 kg) participated in a 12-week (4-week × 3-intervention, i.e., control [CON], cold [CWI] or hot [HWI] water immersion) resistance exercise programme, utilising a randomised cross-over pre-post-design. Body composition measures were collected using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry prior to commencement and every fourth week thereafter. Neuromuscular squat (SJ) and counter-movement jump (CMJ) performance were measured weekly. Linear mixed-effects models were used to analyse main (treatment, time) and interaction effects. There were no changes in lean (p = 0.960) nor fat mass (p = 0.801) between interventions. CON (p = 0.004) and CWI (p = 0.003) increased (g = 0.08-0.19) SJ height, compared to HWI. There were no changes in CMJ height (p = 0.482) between interventions. Repeated post-resistance exercise whole-body CWI or HWI does not attenuate (nor promote) increases in lean muscle mass in athletes. Post-resistance exercise CON or CWI results in trivial increases in SJ height, compared to HWI. During an in-season competition phase, our data support the continued use of post-resistance exercise whole-body CWI by athletes as a recovery strategy which does not attenuate body composition increases in lean muscle mass, while promoting trivial increases in neuromuscular concentric-only squat jump performance. [Abstract copyright: © 2022. The Author(s).]

Citation

Horgan, B., Halson, S., Drinkwater, E., West, N., Tee, N., Alcock, R., …Haff, G. (2022). No effect of repeated post-resistance exercise cold or hot water immersion on in-season body composition and performance responses in academy rugby players: a randomised controlled cross-over design. European Journal of Applied Physiology, 123(2), 351-359. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05075-2

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Oct 8, 2022
Publication Date Oct 25, 2022
Deposit Date Dec 7, 2022
Publicly Available Date Dec 7, 2022
Journal European Journal of Applied Physiology
Print ISSN 1439-6319
Electronic ISSN 1439-6327
Publisher Springer Verlag
Volume 123
Issue 2
Pages 351-359
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05075-2
Publisher URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-022-05075-2

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