After traveling across the country, going 3-4 at the plate with a two-run homer and a double, most would succumb to jet lag and enjoy a relaxing morning before gearing up for round two. Well, that was not the case for MISSION’s newest athlete, Adrian Gonzalez of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Adrian spent last Wednesday morning hanging out with our team and 20 excited little leaguers to shoot a video for MISSION Shock Grip, a shrink-to-fit grip for baseball bats that reduces shock and enhances grip. (Expect the full video to hit the Internet in mid-June!)

While we loved having Adrian in our spotlight, many of his best moments were off camera. He met all 20 of his co-stars before we starting filming, and took time to take photos with the  crew of little sluggers.

It’s safe to say that the local teams from Rye Brook and Yonkers stole the spotlight at times! Not only did they hit it out of the park with their acting chops, they were real champs when it came to spending all day out in the hot sun. Of course, they rocked  MISSION EnduraCool towels on set to keep refreshed!

For a one-day shoot, we assembled an All-Star squad and are glad to have Adrian as a part of the Mission Athletecare team.

Check out some more pics from the day!

We are solidly into August now, and for many athletes, that means they are enduring long, hot practices in the brutual sun and heat.  If you are the parent of an athlete, you are likely looking for some information on how to help keep your kid safe as he or she heads into pre-season practices.

At MISSION we work with leading scientists, trainers and athletes to help athletes protect their bodies and perform their best.  Cooling is top of mind among our partners, as they continue to work to help keep you cooler, so you can go harder.  This year we have introduced our Enduracool Instant Cooling Helmet Liner and the Enduracool Instant Cooling Hoodie, developed for Football and other team sports to specifically address the sideline and in game needs of players who experience overheating.

But, cooling the skin is one of several important prevention practices to combat overheating.  So,while we have been talking about staying cool during the summer in several blog articles; today we wanted to specifially address athletes and ways to help them stay cool at practice.  To that end, we wanted to share information that was published by the Korey Stringer Institute and Gatorade www.ksi.uconn.edu in the 2013 Gatorade Heat Safety Kit.  

They have given 10 tips for staying cool.  Check them out below and let us know if you have any other recommendations that have helped you or your kid out in the past.

Good luck with pre-season and stay cool!

 1.  ALLOW FOR ACCLIMATION - While it can take 10-14 days for an athlete's body to adapt to the heat, acclimation should  start  two  weeks  before  team  practices  begin. An  athlete  should  start  with 15-20 minutes of  continuous  exercise  outside in the  heat, and add  5-10 minutes each day.

2.  ADOPT REHYDRATION STRATEGY - Hydration helps reduce an athlete's risk of heat illness and can help the athlete maintain a high level of performance. Proactive steps athletes can take to avoid dehydrat ion include:

•             Weigh in and out before and after activity

•             Drink enough fluid to minimize weight loss -for each pound [16 oz.) that is lost , he or she may need to consume 20 ounces after athletic activity to fully rehydrate.

•             Check urine. If ifs li e pale lemonade, thafs a sign of good hydration.

3.            DRINK UP - Athletes should drink enough fluid to prevent dehydration without ove r-drinking. Flavored, cold, lightly salted sports drinks (ie Gatorade) are important because sodium helps maintain the physiological desire to drink and helps retain the fluid consumed.

4.            BUDDY UP AND KNOW THE SIGNS - Encourage athletes to buddy up with a teammate and watch out for each other when ifs hot and humid. They should know the signs and symptoms of heat illness which can include:

•             Nausea

•             Headache

•             Weakness

•             Poor concentration

•             Personality change

•             Flushed skin

•             Loss of muscle coordination

•             Fatigue

•             Fainting              

•             Light headedness           

•             Vomiting

5.            COOL THE BODY - If experiencing heat illness, an athlete should take steps to cool the body , including lying in a cool place with legs elevated , applying cool towels  (ie Enduracool!) to the body and drinking cool fluids.

6.            BE FLEXIBLE -An important step in avoiding heat illness is adjusting practice or game length and intensity to the environmental conditions. If possible , athletes should avoid strenuous and high intensity activities during the warmest time of day [10 am- 4 ptn).

7.            DRESS FOR THE WEATHER -Keeping cool in hot weather means being mindful of appropriate clothing and equipment that can help evaporate heat from the body:

•             Wear light-colored clothing

•             Wear t-shirts and shorts, not pads

•             Remove helmets when not active

•             Avoid wearing excess clothing

•             Change sweat-s oaked clothing frequently

8.            FIND TIME FOR RECOVERY - Rest and recovery are an essential part of avoiding heat illness. Athletes should work in times for breaks when active throughout the day, attempt to get six to eight hours of sleep a night and sleep in a cool environment, if possible.

9. MAINTAIN A HEALTHY DIET - Athletes need to think about fueling before, during and after physical activity. He or she should be fully hydrated with fluids and fueled with foods that contain electrolytes to maintain fluid levels. Fluids lost through sweat and breathing should be replaced by fluid consumption including during workouts,  practices and games  [physical activity).

10. HAVE AN EMERGENCY PLAN - Have a plan to contact medical professionals in an emergency. Also keep a  "cool pool, or ice bath nearby  so  medical personnel can choose  to  immerse  athletes suffering fro m heat stroke  if  necessary.

Training, running, competing in hot environments can be grueling.  Your body temperature runs higher, you sweat more, you work harder to perform. 

The skin is the body’s natural radiator. Sweating and vascular dilation - having your blood vessels carry blood closer to the skin - helps your body maintain the proper temperature. On average, your body stays within a range of 96.4 and 99.1 degrees, but exercise makes this more difficult, with variations up to 103 degrees for especially hard workouts.  And as temperatures continue to rise, the demands on the body challenge the efficiency of your natural radiator; leading to decreased performance.

Emerging science shows that cooling key areas of the skin (namely the neck, wrists, elbows and temples, also known as “pulse points”) can help stimulate thermoregulation signals to the brain, delaying fatigue, and making you feel less discomfort from those grueling hot temperatures.  Now, who wouldn’t want to feel less discomfort from the heat, especially if it helps you feel like you could go harder, and longer in your workout?

Here are some helpful insights into how pulse point cooling works, and some gear recommends that can help you harness pulse point cooling to maximize your training.

How Pulse Point Cooling Works:

Ever wonder what is exactly happening when you get that "flushed" look as you overheat?  Well, here is how it breaks down.  As your temperature rises, the body opens up the capillaries near the skin.  Your natural cooling system circulates blood to move heat from inside of your body to the surface of your skin. Your sweat then helps cool you, by releasing some of that heat as sweat evaporates.  The blood near the surface of the skin then recirculates through the body and absorbs more heat to be released. The process continues...

So, how can cooling pulse points help?  Simply,  it helps your body continue that natural process more efficiently. Cooling your pulse points (those points where you blood travels closest to the surface of the skin) with water, cool fabric or towels provides a greater heat differential to allow for a greater amount of heat to be lost through evaporation of sweat. 

In other words, if the goal is to help your body be a more efficient radiator, concentrate this effect on the parts of the body where the most good can be done... the neck, the temples, your wrists... where the most blood travels closest to the surface.

In one study by the National Athletic Trainers' Association, using pulse point cooling on the neck during exercise helped athletes to lower heat strain, exercise five minutes longer, tolerate higher temperatures internally and increase performance by six percent. In a separate study from Stanford University, athletes who practiced the same pulse point cooling technique were able to delay fatigue, train harder, gain muscle more rapidly and most importantly, train longer than competitors.  

It is evident that overheating is not something to be taken lightly.  And there is no replacement for hydration and prevention (see TIPS TO PREVENT OVERHEATING in our previous post) But as athletes continue to look for the extra edge, understanding the science behind pulse point cooling can inform training regimens and gear considerations.

Enduracool Instant Cooling Gear:

Building on the science of pulse point cooling, MISSION has launched a new collection of Instant Cooling Gear to target pulse points and help you feel cooler.

MISSION’s new EnduraCool™ Instant Cooling Gear is powered by patented Coolcore™ technology, and offers innovative, intelligent and sustainable cooling solutions to athletes across all sports – from individuals to teams, casual competitors to professionals.  The new EnduraCool™ Instant Cooling Gear lineup includes: Instant Cooling Hoodies, Instant Cooling Sleeves, Instant Cooling Skull Caps, Instant Cooling Helmet Liners and Instant Cooling Headwear. The line builds upon the research and thermoregulation technology that originally produced the Mission EnduraCool™ Instant Cooling Towel, and offers instant cooling benefits in lightweight and breathable textiles that also include UPF 45+ sun protection.   

A simple process activates the cooling technology in all EnduraCool products. Athletes simply wet it, wring it out, and allow air to circulate into the fabric. The fabric cools to approximately 30 degrees below the average body temperature in under a minute, and the cooling effects – easily reactivated by re-wetting the fabric (with water or sweat) and re-introducing air flow – last for hours.

Feel Cool and Go Harder.