Numerous investigators have documented sex differences in exercise thermoregulation; however, until recently, it remained uncertain whether those differences were related to sex per se or simply due to secondary differences in body size and aerobic fitness between the men and women studied. Such secondary differences influence exercise thermoregulation primarily by modulating metabolic heat production and the heat loss required to prevent continued rises in core temperature. For example, due to their smaller size, heat production per unit body mass or surface area and the resultant rise in core temperature would be greater in women during weight-supported exercise at a fixed work rate (eg, cycling at 200 W). While determining the potential, magnitude of these effects during training or competition is complex, they pose no more of a concern than differences in body size or aerobic fitness among athletes of the same sex and are likely of trivial importance among athletes of the same competitive level during self-paced exercise.
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