Effects of six weeks of sub-plateau cold environment training on physical functioning and athletic ability in elite parallel giant slalom snowboard athletes

Background Hypoxic and cold environments have been shown to improve the function and performance of athletes. However, it is unclear whether the combination of subalpine conditions and cold temperatures may have a greater effect. The present study aims to investigate the effects of 6 weeks of training in a sub-plateau cold environment on the physical function and athletic ability of elite parallel giant slalom snowboard athletes. Methods Nine elite athletes (four males and five females) participated in the study. The athletes underwent 6 weeks of high intensity ski-specific technical training (150 min/session, six times/week) and medium-intensity physical training (120 min/session, six times/week) prior to the Beijing 2021 Winter Olympic Games test competition. The physiological and biochemical parameters were collected from elbow venous blood samples after each 2-week session to assess the athletes’ physical functional status. The athletes’ athletic ability was evaluated by measuring their maximal oxygen uptake, Wingate 30 s anaerobic capacity, 30 m sprint run, and race performance. Measurements were taken before and after participating in the training program for six weeks. The repeated measure ANOVA was used to test the overall differences of blood physiological and biochemical indicators. For indicators with significant time main effects, post-hoc tests were conducted using the least significant difference (LSD) method. The paired-samples t-test was used to analyze changes in athletic ability indicators before and after training. Results (1) There was a significant overall time effect for red blood cells (RBC) and white blood cells (WBC) in males; there was also a significant effect on the percentage of lymphocytes (LY%), serum testosterone (T), and testosterone to cortisol ratio (T/C) in females ( p < 0.001 − 0.015, ${\eta }_{p}^{2}=0.81-0.99$). In addition, a significant time effect was also found for blood urea(BU), serum creatine kinase (CK), and serum cortisol levels in both male and female athletes ( p = 0.001 − 0.029, ${\eta }_{p}^{2}=0.52-0.95$). (2) BU and CK levels in males and LY% in females were all significantly higher at week 6 ( p = 0.001 − 0.038), while WBC in males was significantly lower ( p = 0.030). T and T/C were significantly lower in females at week 2 compared to pre-training ( p = 0.007, 0.008, respectively), while cortisol (C) was significantly higher in males and females at weeks 2 and 4 ( p ( male ) = 0.015, 0.004, respectively; p ( female ) = 0.024, 0.030, respectively). (3) There was a noticeable increase in relative maximal oxygen uptake, Wingate 30 s relative average anaerobic power, 30 m sprint run performance, and race performance in comparison to the pre-training measurements ( p < 0.001 − 0.027). Conclusions Six weeks of sub-plateau cold environment training may improve physical functioning and promote aerobic and anaerobic capacity for parallel giant slalom snowboard athletes. Furthermore, male athletes had a greater improvement of physical functioning and athletic ability when trained in sub-plateau cold environments.