Despite many attempts to relate components of physique to core temperature cooling rate, no consistent relationship has emerged. The inconsistencies among the reported findings may arise from unaccounted thermoregulatory responses or incomplete physique assessment or both. A study was designed to examine this relationship in the range of rectal temperatures (Tre) within which shivering and sweating are absent, defined as the null zone, thus minimizing the contribution of these effector responses. Twenty healthy subjects (10 male and 10 female), representing a variety of physiques, participated in the study. The anthropometric protocol included 5 heights, body mass, 8 skinfolds, 10 girths, and 4 breadths. This permitted derivation of a body surface-area-to-mass ratio and estimates of adipose and muscle tissue masses using a cadaver-validated mass fractionation model. Subjects were heated in a 40 degrees C bath followed immediately by cooling in a 30.6 degrees C bath. During the cooling, forehead sweating rate and oxygen uptake were monitored to establish the boundaries of the Tre null zone. In addition, on-line recordings were made of Tre, skin temperature, and surface heat flux at six sites. The rate of cooling of Tre (Tre), in the range of temperatures between thresholds for sweating and shivering, was correlated to the components of physique. Estimates of adipose and skeletal muscle tissue masses did not correlate to Tre in the range of core temperatures investigated. However, total mass exhibited a significant correlation (r = 0.5, P less than or equal to 0.05) with Tre, but gender seemed to distort this relationship, possibly due to differences in adipose tissue distribution.