94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Exercise Physiology
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1462901
This article is part of the Research Topic Acute and Chronic Responses to Heat Stress to Optimize Health and Performance View all 5 articles
Effects of Repeated Use of Post-Exercise Infrared Sauna on Neuromuscular Performance and Muscle Hypertrophy
Provisionally accepted- 1 Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyväskylä, Central Finland, Finland
- 2 Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre, Faculty of Human Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden
- 3 Finnish Institute of High Performance Sport KIHU, Jyväskylä, Finland
Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate whether regular use of infrared sauna (IRS) after training can promote neuromuscular performance and positive changes in body composition during a 6-week training period.Methods: Forty female team sport athletes were pair-matched into two groups: IRS (n=20) and control (CON; n=20). Physical performance tests, body composition and hypertrophy measurements (dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and ultrasound of m. vastus lateralis) were performed PRE and POST a 6-week strength and power training period, involving 2-3 sessions per week. Performance tests included a 20 m sprint, squat jump (SJ), countermovement jumps with body weight (CMJ) as well as with 15, 25, and 50% additional load (CMJ15%, CMJ25%, and CMJ50%), and a maximal isometric leg press (MVC).Participants in the IRS-group used IRS (10 min, 50 ℃) after training three times per week.Results: Training improved neuromuscular performance and muscle hypertrophy in both groups (p < 0.05). Following the discovery of an interaction effect for CMJ15% height (p = 0.002) and peak power (p = 0.010), post-hoc tests revealed higher jump height POST-IRS (p = 0.006) and PRE-CON (p=0.023) compared to PRE-IRS, and higher peak power POST-IRS (p = 0.002) compared to PRE-IRS. Furthermore, an interaction effect was observed for 5 m split time of the 20 m sprint (p=0.020), but no differences were found between groups and timepoints. There were no interactions for the hypertrophy measures.Conclusion: Incorporating post-exercise IRS bathing does not significantly impact hypertrophy gains, but might boost long-term power production capabilities.
Keywords: Heat-therapy1, recovery2, physical performance3, Hypertrophy4, Team-sport5, Female athletes6
Received: 10 Jul 2024; Accepted: 19 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ahokas, Hanstock, Kyröläinen and Ihalainen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Essi K Ahokas, Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyväskylä, 40014, Central Finland, Finland
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.