Tuesday Jan 30, 2024

105. Using Palmar Cooling to Improve Performance | AVA Cooling Technology (Part 2)

“Controlling temperature is something that is overlooked and undervalued in sports and just in life,” explains Dr. Kyle Sela, physical therapist, strength coach and founder of AVA Cooling Technology, who returns to The Code to talk more about the many benefits of palmar cooling. Thermoregulation is the body’s way of preventing heat-related injury. The hypothalamus sends local signals to the muscles in the form of fatigue, as well as systemic signals of adaptation and behavior modification to get us to stop moving. When the glabrous skin of the hands, feet and face, come in contact with a source of cooling such as the AVA anti-fatigue bar, the network of cells underneath to generously dump heat, allowing for, even encouraging, a longer workout at a maintained intensity.

This means performance-enhancing capabilities for athletes of all levels, as well as health benefits for a number of issues. Athletes get in more sets, more reps within those sets and experience faster recovery time. This Dr. Sela describes watching a young woman use the bar to counteract heat stroke while his own sons have used them to quell a fever. By making exercise more comfortable and therefore more appealing, palmar cooling through AVA technology can be an effective tool in fighting the ongoing problem of obesity.

In this episode, Dr. Sela and Dr. Fix discuss recent research related to palmar cooling, and how to judiciously evaluate a study to best inform yourself. Join the conversation to learn more about how this veteran-owned business can help you on your own fitness journey.

Quotes

• “As a coach, as a dad, as a strength coach, this is a tool that I constantly see people–once you say, ‘Hey, just hold onto it’---they get a sigh of relief.” (20:37 | Dr. Sela)

• “This is one of those things that can actually help people, from a performance standpoint but maybe even from a safety standpoint.” (21:45 | Dr. Sela)

• “People hear ‘human performance’ and people think ‘elite athlete’ or someone who’s just a hard charger, a fitness fanatic. But the research has shown, temperature is an issue for all of us. So, whether you’re super fit or not fit at all, this is one of those limiting factors.” (27:28 | Dr. Sela)

• “A lot of recovery is targeted to post workout. ‘What can I do after my workout? What can I do tonight so that I perform better tomorrow?’ And what we’re talking about is, ‘What can I do in that 90 seconds between sets, between my work intervals, what can I do now, so that at my next interval, I’m starting from a more recovered state?’ I’m not starting from such a stressed position, that interval is going to be better.” (33:36 | Dr. Sela)

• “Palmar cooling is not going to make you stronger, it’s not going to allow you to put more weight on the bench, and all of a sudden bench more than you had the week before. It’s going to allow you to do more sets at the hard training volume that you have programmed than if you didn’t do it.” (46:13 | Dr. Sela)

• “We are, at the brain level, sensing temperature changes and making motivational changes to self-preserve.” (1:00:55 | Dr. Sela)

Links

Connect with Dr. Kyle Sela:

Website: www.avacooling.com

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