There’s a new trend to do all your exercise in a hot room. First it was the Hot Yoga. Now it’s everything from Pilates to Weight training to Whatever. Use your head. What’s coming out of your pores is not some toxic waste dump – it’s just sweat. And don’t fool yourself; just because you’re sweating doesn’t mean you’re working hard. You’re just sweating.
Maybe a warm room helps your muscles warm up. But that is what a warm up is for – to get your blood from the inside circulating in your muscle cells so they are ready to work. Maybe you can warm up a little faster in a warm room and are able to stretch a little better at the end because you are warm. But please, think for a moment.
If you were to do your same workout in a regular room temperature and you find you are not sweating, it’s because YOUR WORKOUT ISN’T HARD ENOUGH. No Crossfitter would ever request a hot room – they’d be throwing up because their workouts are hard enough without any added heat. They don’t need an artificial way of creating the false illusion that they are working hard. And my Sunday morning Level 2 clients are constantly requesting doors and windows open – even in winter to keep from overheating.
The one other thing I wonder about this heat thing: What happens to your muscles when you go from 100 degrees into the freezing cold? It seems to me that they would tighten up dramatically and then where’s the benefit?
I may end up eating my words but it seems crazy to me. Can’t we just get a good, hard, sweaty workout and leave it as it is?
I’ll step down off my soapbox now.
