WORDS BY KELLY MICKLE. JAKOB AXELMAN/THE LICENSING PROJECT
COSMOPOLITAN June 2015 165
Exercising in high temps isn’t just for yogis
anymore. But is the sweat-fest worth it?W
hether it’s hot Spinning
in Sydney, scorching boot
camps in New York City,
or heated boxing classes,
roasted versions of top workouts are
everywhere. In fact, the owners of The
Sweat Shoppe indoor-cycling studio in
LA phased out regular classes because
of the demand for hot ones.
Olivia, 25, was hooked after her
first hot ride. “I sweated so much, it was
like I’d been cleansed,” she recalls. “I
could practically feel the toxins being
released from my body.”
That’s a common belief, but it’s
not actually scientific. It’s your kidneys
and liver – not your sweat glands – that
filter toxins from your body. “The point
of sweating is to cool you down,” says
Dr Dee Anna Glaser, who has studied
excessive sweating. In fact, she even
warns, “If you don’t drink enough water
to compensate, you put stress on your
liver and kidneys, meaning they can’t
do their jobs properly.”
Nor does a hot workout torch more
calories. “Intensity is the best indicator
of calorie burn – not sweat or heart rate- and most people lessen intensity when
exercising in heat,” explains Douglas
Casa, director of athletic training at the
University of Connecticut. And, even if
you could match intensities, you’d burn
at most 10 per cent more calories.
What adding heat can do is pump
up performance. Cyclists did better in
both cool and warm environments after
training in hot temps for just 10 days, a
recent study in the Journal of Applied
Physiology revealed. “When you get hot,
blood vessels in your skin will dilate to
stimulate sweat,” says study author
Santiago Lorenzo. “Then, once you’re
acclimated, you sweat more and sooner.
Your skin needs less blood to cool you
off, which means more can be sent to
the muscles and organs.”
This increased blood flow keeps
your muscles flexible, boosts endurance
and makes working out in much cooler
temperatures feel like a cinch. Olivia
says doing hot Spinning a few days a
week helped her cut 25 minutes off her
marathon time. “Everything else felt
easier,” she says.
Not only that, but hot fitness can
be pretty damn motivating, too. It can
take a while to see exercise results, so
some small visual cues that prove you’re
making a difference are helpful. “The
emotional component of finishing your
workout drenched can be incredibly
rewarding,” says Lorenzo.
Bottom line: if hot fitness seems
like torture, there’s no health reason to
do it. If you love sweating buckets or
are in training, go for it – just remember
to obey these four rules...THEHOT
DRINK UP
Weigh yourself
both pre- and
post- exercise.
For each kilo of
water weight
lost, aim to sip
roughly 70ml
of H20. #PHASE IT IN
“Take workshops that
allow you to gradually
do longer workouts in
higher temperatures,”
says Casa. “Or start
with lower-intensity
styles, like Pilates,
and duck out early.”PAY ATTENTION
You should always
listen to your body.
Feeling dizzy, weak,
nauseous or have a
headache? “Leave
immediately and
go find some A/C,”
advises Casa.MIND THE TEMP
Reserve anything
above 38°C for
yoga. Before you
sign up, check that
the class has an air
system that tracks
humidity levels and
the temperature.THE HOT
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