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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "

23.09.2010

Make more reps by cooling your hands down between sets

You'll do better with your bench presses if you cool down the palms of your hands between sets. This is the conclusion of research done at the University of New Mexico in which well-trained subjects used the Avacore: a kind of glove that cools down your hands. And a very expensive glove it is too. [www.avacore.com]

According to the inventors of the Avacore, the machine reduces the temperature of the body, which can be an advantage to athletes who train intensively. After all, regulating body temperature costs energy, which athletes that use the Avacore can put into their training instead.

The researchers got 16 men, all of whom had been doing serious weight training for over 5 years, to do bench presses. The men started with a set using their 1RM, and then did another 4 sets using 85 percent of their 1RM. Between sets the subjects put their hands in the Avacore for two and a half minutes, which cooled their hands down to 10 degrees Celsius [PC].

For the first set using 85 percent of the 1RM the number of reps was fixed. During the other 3 sets the subjects did reps to failure.

The Avacore also sucks a bit of the air out of the gloves. So the researchers repeated their experiment under conditions in which the Avacore warmed the subjects' hands up to 45 degrees [PH] and where there was no temperature change [TN].

The lower temperature increased the number of reps – and therefore the training volume too.

The researchers are not sure exactly how the Avacore works. When they attached electrodes to the subjects' chest, shoulder and arm muscles, they found nothing that could explain the effect. It might be the case that the subjects are less tired if they cool their hands down between sets. Their 'rating of perceived exertion' is a little lower in this case.

But why is that so? The researchers don't know. "Could it be, that subjects were able to continue to perform more repetitions with cooling simply because they felt better before starting each set?" they write.

The research was not financed by the manufacturer of Avacore. The study is a spin-off of PhD research done by Young Sub Kwon, the first author of the article.

Source:
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2010 Aug; 42(8): 1557-65.