The Cooling Game
Million Dollar Question: Which is more important to human performance, thermoregulation (regulating body temperature) or hydration?
Hint: You can fall victim to heat stroke even when fully hydrated.
The correct answer is "Both", yet you're not alone in your surprise that thermoregulation is as critically important as hydration -- it's why sports drinks are on every athletic bench while cooling vests are virtually unknown by all but elite athletes.
Think about wearing a cooling vest the same way you think about wearing your winter coat.
Without a winter coat, your body will attempt to warm itself by shivering. Shivering cannot keep you warm to the degree a warm winter coat can, but instintively we know this and bundle up appropriately.
Without a cooling vest, your body seeks to cool itself by sweating. Sweating eventually results in dehydration, and is in no way sufficient in preventing heat stress and/or heat stroke.
COOLING PROTOCOLS
PRECOOLING stalls the point at which overheating would normally occur. If your activity doesn't allow for cooling on-the-job, then this method of cooling is for you:
- Precool for 30 minutes or longer to outlast your competition
- Precool to boost your mental and physical endurance
- Precool while "warming up" to reserve your game-time performance
MID-ACTIVITY or SIDELINES COOLING
- Throw on your cooling vest whenever you take a break to restore physical and mental endurance
RECOVERY COOLING
- Your body keeps sweating after extended activity in warm environments. Your cooling vest helps your body safely recover.
- Ice Tubs are considered the gold standard for cooling an overheated athlete, but are not always available. The Maximo Cooling Vest is the next best option.