Nutritional and Training Strategies to Enhance Exercise Performance and Recovery in Thermal Environments

Exercise performance, recovery, and overall health are profoundly influenced by environmental conditions. With global warming emerging as a major public health issue, many athletes and physically active individuals are increasingly exposed to prolonged periods in thermal environments during training or competition. This elevates the importance of understanding both acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise in thermal environments. Impaired thermoregulatory capacity can reduce endurance, neuromuscular performance, cardiovascular stability, cognitive function, and recovery, further highlighting the need for systematic strategies to optimize physiological and exercise function in heat.

Both independent and combined applications of nutritional and training strategies have been shown to effectively enhance exercise performance and recovery, yet their effects in thermal environments remain to be further investigated. Nutritional strategies include targeted dietary supplementation (such as caffeine, sodium bicarbonate, nitrates, and carbohydrates), nutrition timing, and fluid and electrolyte balance and hydration strategies. Training strategies mainly consist of structured exercise protocols conducted in controlled environments (for example, environmental chambers) or natural hot settings, as well as the use of passive heating devices and wearable equipment to support training activities. These strategies can benefit athletes in hot environments by improving energy availability, supporting fluid balance, enhancing sweating efficiency, increasing plasma volume, promoting cardiovascular stability, and elevating thermal tolerance.

This Research Topic aims to advance understanding of nutritional and training interventions that optimize exercise performance, recovery, and thermoregulatory adaptation in thermal environments. The integrated application of nutritional and training interventions is also a key focus of this Research Topic. By linking mechanistic research with applied practice, the goal is to provide evidence-based guidance that can inform athletes, coaches, clinicians, and physically active populations across diverse environmental and sporting contexts.

We welcome original research, reviews, meta-analyses, methodological papers, and perspectives addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

Acute neuromuscular, cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive responses and underlying mechanisms under thermal stress

Heat acclimation/acclimatization and physiological adaptations in thermoregulation, sweat rate, and cardiovascular function

Hydration strategies, fluid-electrolyte balance, and thermoregulation during prolonged or repeated heat exposure

Nutritional interventions and supplementation to support performance, adaptation, and recovery in thermal environments

Cooling techniques and recovery protocols for managing temperature regulation and exercise performance

Training modalities, load management, and periodization strategies to enhance thermoregulatory efficiency

Female athletes, youth, aging populations, and clinical groups in thermal environments

Effects of humid and dry heat conditions on exercise performance and recovery

Combined nutritional and training strategies and their integrated effects on performance and recovery

By integrating evidence across disciplines, this Research Topic aims to identify effective, evidence-based strategies to optimize performance, accelerate recovery, and enhance thermoregulatory adaptation across varied thermal environments.