Hardiness with Dr Paul Taylor A very cool, simple hack to greatly improve your strength training - Wisdom Wednesdays
Feb 3, 2026
They explore how heat, not just muscle failure, drives fatigue during strength workouts. A Stanford-backed cooling trick using palm contact is explained. Research results show big gains in reps, pull-ups, training volume and 1RM. A simple DIY frozen-bottle method for palm cooling is demonstrated.
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Heat Can Drive Strength Fatigue
- Fatigue during heavy resistance training is often driven by rising body temperature, not just local muscle failure.
- Dr. Paul Taylor explains that the brain reduces performance to prevent overheating rather than because muscles are fully exhausted.
Palms Act As Body Radiators
- Glabrous skin areas (palms, soles, face) contain arteriovenous anastomoses that act like radiators for cooled blood return.
- Cooling these AVA-rich sites lowers core and muscle temperature, preserving enzyme efficiency and performance.
Cool A Palm Between Heavy Sets
- Cool one palm between heavy sets using a ~15–16°C water surface to extract heat and reduce core temperature by about 0.6°C.
- This simple cooling increased bench-press repetitions from 36 to 42 on average in the Stanford study.