Effect of leg cooling at half-time breaks on performance of soccer-simulated exercise in a hot environment

Physical performance can be impaired by elevations in core temperature in a hot environment (Kozlowski et al., 1985). It is well known that pre-cooling improves exercise performance due to the reduced physiological strain in hot environment (Quod et al., 2006). Although it has been reported that pre-cooling is of no significant benefit for intermittent exercise (Drust et al., 2000), it is not clear whether performance of intermittent exercise in the second half is affected by body cooling at half-time breaks. One of the reasons for the lack of information on the physiological and metabolic responses of players in soccer is the practical difficulty associated with conducting field studies.