TABLE 1.

Cold exercise experimental design.

Group	5-week cold time (h)	Exercise	Annotation	Intervention
Sport-N-Cold-0h	0	N	Control (NC)	24°C–26°C room temperature; no exercise
Sport-Y-Cold-0h	0	Y	Exercise alone (NE)	24°C–26°C room temperature; treadmill exercise for 1 h on alternate days
Sport-N-Cold-4h	4	N	Acute cold alone (AC)	24°C–26°C room temperature; no exercise; cold exposure (3°C–4°C) 4 h before sampling
Sport-Y-Cold-4h	4	Y	Acute cold + exercise (AE)	24°C–26°C room temperature; treadmill exercise for 1 h on alternate days; cold exposure (3°C–4°C) 4 h before sampling
Sport-N-Cold-28h	28	N	Intermittent cold alone (IC)	Daily cold exposure for 4 h, with the remaining time spent at room temperature. No exercise
Sport-Y-Cold-28h	28	Y	Intermittent cold + exercise (IE)	Daily cold exposure 4 h, with the remaining time spent at room temperature. Treadmill exercise for 1 h on alternate days
Sport-N-Cold-168h	168	N	Sustained cold alone (SC)	Cold exposure (3°C–4°C); no exercise
Sport-Y-Cold-168h	168	Y	Sustained cold + exercise (SE)	Cold exposure (3°C–4°C); treadmill exercise for 1 h on alternate days