Thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing during competition

Luke W. Oates; Michael J. Price; Lindsay M. Bottoms

doi:10.1080/23328940.2024.2389587

Thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing during competition

Luke W. Oates, Michael J. Price, Lindsay M. Bottoms

Centre for Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Sciences

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Abstract

The International Olympic Committee recently introduced a consensus statement on recommendations for outdoor sports in the heat. However, indoor sports such as fencing whereby athletes are required to wear full body protective clothing when competing have received no recommendations. Such scenarios could cause high thermoregulatory demands particularly as competition progresses into latter rounds (direct elimination; DE). Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the thermoregulatory responses of épée fencing across different phases of competition (Poule and DE). Seven well-trained fencers competed in a simulated competition comprising of seven Poule and seven DE fights. Gastrointestinal temperature (T_gast), skin temperature (T_skin), mask temperature (T_mask), heart rate (HR), thermal sensation, differentiated ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and movement characteristics were collected for all fights. There was a moderate thermoregulatory demand during Poule rounds shown by post-fight T_gast (38.1 ± 0.4°C), T_skin (34.4 ± 0.7°C), and thermal sensation ratings (6 ± 1). A greater thermoregulatory and perceptual demand observed during DE rounds evidenced by T_gast (38.7 ± 0.3°C post fight), T_skin (35.1 ± 0.7°C), thermal sensation (7 ± 1), increases in T_mask across DE rounds (~1.1°C), and RPE (~15). Furthermore, a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in distance covered from DE 1 to DE 7 suggests a thermoregulatory based impact on performance. This is the first study demonstrating the thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing, highlighting the need to develop heat exertion guidelines within fencing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	(In-Press)
Number of pages	14
Journal	Temperature
Volume	(In-Press)
Early online date	23 Aug 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/23328940.2024.2389587
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 23 Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or builtupon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Keywords

body temperature
competition
fencing
protective clothing
thermoregulation
Thermoregulatory demands
épée

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Physiology
Physiology (medical)

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Price2024VoRFinal published version, 1.01 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "The International Olympic Committee recently introduced a consensus statement on recommendations for outdoor sports in the heat. However, indoor sports such as fencing whereby athletes are required to wear full body protective clothing when competing have received no recommendations. Such scenarios could cause high thermoregulatory demands particularly as competition progresses into latter rounds (direct elimination; DE). Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the thermoregulatory responses of {\'e}p{\'e}e fencing across different phases of competition (Poule and DE). Seven well-trained fencers competed in a simulated competition comprising of seven Poule and seven DE fights. Gastrointestinal temperature (Tgast), skin temperature (Tskin), mask temperature (Tmask), heart rate (HR), thermal sensation, differentiated ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and movement characteristics were collected for all fights. There was a moderate thermoregulatory demand during Poule rounds shown by post-fight Tgast (38.1 ± 0.4°C), Tskin (34.4 ± 0.7°C), and thermal sensation ratings (6 ± 1). A greater thermoregulatory and perceptual demand observed during DE rounds evidenced by Tgast (38.7 ± 0.3°C post fight), Tskin (35.1 ± 0.7°C), thermal sensation (7 ± 1), increases in Tmask across DE rounds (~1.1°C), and RPE (~15). Furthermore, a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in distance covered from DE 1 to DE 7 suggests a thermoregulatory based impact on performance. This is the first study demonstrating the thermoregulatory demands of {\'e}p{\'e}e fencing, highlighting the need to develop heat exertion guidelines within fencing.",

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N2 - The International Olympic Committee recently introduced a consensus statement on recommendations for outdoor sports in the heat. However, indoor sports such as fencing whereby athletes are required to wear full body protective clothing when competing have received no recommendations. Such scenarios could cause high thermoregulatory demands particularly as competition progresses into latter rounds (direct elimination; DE). Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the thermoregulatory responses of épée fencing across different phases of competition (Poule and DE). Seven well-trained fencers competed in a simulated competition comprising of seven Poule and seven DE fights. Gastrointestinal temperature (Tgast), skin temperature (Tskin), mask temperature (Tmask), heart rate (HR), thermal sensation, differentiated ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and movement characteristics were collected for all fights. There was a moderate thermoregulatory demand during Poule rounds shown by post-fight Tgast (38.1 ± 0.4°C), Tskin (34.4 ± 0.7°C), and thermal sensation ratings (6 ± 1). A greater thermoregulatory and perceptual demand observed during DE rounds evidenced by Tgast (38.7 ± 0.3°C post fight), Tskin (35.1 ± 0.7°C), thermal sensation (7 ± 1), increases in Tmask across DE rounds (~1.1°C), and RPE (~15). Furthermore, a significant (p < 0.05) reduction in distance covered from DE 1 to DE 7 suggests a thermoregulatory based impact on performance. This is the first study demonstrating the thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing, highlighting the need to develop heat exertion guidelines within fencing.

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Thermoregulatory demands of épée fencing during competition

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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