Ice on the neck between rounds: feels easier, same output
Wet ice on the back of the neck during 1-minute breaks between hard cycling rounds lowered skin temperature, heat sensation and perceived effort. Time to exhaustion did not change.
What they studied
- Design
- Crossover: each person did all three conditions
- People
- 13 adults, mean age 25
- Protocol
- Two 5-minute rounds of 20 s hard / 15 s rest on a bike, then a ride to exhaustion
- Conditions
- Wet ice · menthol spray · nothing, on the neck during 1-minute breaks
What they found
- Ice lowered neck and chest skin temperature more than menthol spray.
- Ice made people feel cooler than no treatment, from the first break through recovery.
- Perceived effort was lower with ice after the second round.
- Time to exhaustion was the same in all three conditions (about 69 s).
How strong is the evidence
Crossover · n=13
What this design cannot tell us:
- Small lab study on a bike, not in a real bout or match.
- The benefits were in how hard it felt, not in performance.
What it means for your training
- A cheap comfort tool for hot, repeated efforts such as combat-sport rounds.
- Don’t expect it to make you faster or last longer.
Our summary of the published abstract. Read the original paper for full details.