I have been having problems with being extremely cold after a work out. I don’t think this is an ambient temperature issue. I am not cold during the workout but when I get done my fingers go white and I will shiver uncontrollably. It takes me quite a while to get myself back in the swing of things. I have tried eating immediately after and it doesn’t help. I am cold enough that a hot tub doesn’t make the situation any better. Has anyone else dealt with this issue?
Are you weighing yourself before and after the workout?
What’s the temperate where you are working out?
How long are you working out?
What do you wear?
I do get cold after workouts in the winter. Usually when it is cold outside it seems like it catches up to me. It lasts about 10-15 minutes. I usually finish working out, drink a recovery drink, stretch and wrap up in a blanket for 10 or so minutes.
That usually solves it.
I am not weighing before or after the workout
Temperature has been warm for the season
Work out from 2-5 hours
I wear clothes appropriate to the conditions I don’t try to freeze myself out in the winter and have even taken to wearing gloves when it is cold
.
The two things I would look at are electrolyte and water intake pre, during and post exercise. You’re body can’t do a very good job regulating temperature without either of those.
I am not weighing before or after the workout
Temperature has been warm for the season
Work out from 2-5 hours
I wear clothes appropriate to the conditions I don’t try to freeze myself out in the winter and have even taken to wearing gloves when it is cold
Could you please be more vague.
My intake, I would suggest, is good. I take perpetuem (4-5 scoops) and Heed (2 scoops) in 24-30 ounce bottles for 2-3 hour ride plus a short 5 mile run afterward. I am not a huge sweater.
I usually have to urinate after the ride and probably did so during the ride (stopped at a gas station). I just get darn cold afterward.
I just figure I am friggin weird.
i will try to be more vague
I don’t weigh myself
I have this problem when it is 0 degrees or 95 degrees so just about any weather
This happens anytime that I work out training time is between 2-5 hours
Can’t be any more vague about the clothing I wear little in the summer and don’t dress up like I am on Everest in the winter.
I had the same thing about 1 hour after I finished IMFL. I was under covers in the motel room shivering and feeling nauseous. It is definitely not weather related as temps were much warmer than Chicago. It stopped within an hour or so.
You said you ate immediately, but did you try a recovery beverage?
Best of luck.
Sounds like it is beyond ‘normal.’ Maybe you ought to see a doc. I’ve been hypothermic with the same symptoms but I don’t see how a 95 degree workout would do that to you.
sounds like heat illness
.
Do you get out of your wet/sweaty workout clothes immediately afoter you’re done? If I sit around in my clothes I end up freezing and it takes quite a while to warm up. Warm dry clothes, warm drink and something to eat do the trick for me.
I experience a very similar thing after many workouts. It sometimes takes me 20-30 minutes of sitting in a really hot shower or the sauna or steam room to warm back up. I never asked my doctor about it, but always assumed it was related to Reynauld’s (which I was diagnosed with); Do you have problems with your fingers and toes going numb easily? I can be standing outside in 50degree temps and my toes will turn white.
I just know that whenever I have a workout, I need to bring dry clothes with me to change into immediately afterwards, otherwise I will get white fingers/toes and start shivering.
Thanks for the information everyone! I have several areas to explore and will let you know what I figure out.
just think about how your body handles heat for a moment. Your arms and legs are nothing but radiators. If your body needs to shed extra heat, it pumps more blood to your extremeties and pumps it closer to the skin. If it needs to conserve heat, it reduces blood flow to the extermeties and constricts surface vessels. You are burning mucho calories during a workout, which generates a lot of heat. Your body has to shed this heat somehow to maintain its internal temperature. It does this by raising blood flow up near the skin surface and by producing sweat. So now your body is geared up to be shedding a lot of heat and suddenly you stop the internal furnace (stop working out). Your body isn’t going to instantly be able to shut down all those mechanisms it has radiating heat away, so you will experience a drop in core temperature. Once your core temp drops, your body responds by constricting the blood vessels in your extremeties to hold the warm blood near the vital organs and keep your extremeties from radating any more heat. It’s the same reason that your fingers and toes get cold even in warm gloves and socks if your head is exposed. So you stop working out, have a sudden plunge in core temp (get cold) and your body drastically cuts it’s blood flow to your arms and legs.
If you hop in a hot shower, you are warming up mostly your skin surface and extremeties. This is where the blood flow has been reduced, so transfer of heat into your body will not be all that efficient until you warm up those blood vessels and let them start flowing. Shivering under a blanket relys on burning carbohydrates to generate the warmth, which you trap. Both of those take a while. If you sit in your sweat soaked clothes…well you continue to suck heat from your body and get even colder. If you make a nice warm drink (not hot) and slowly sip it, you introduce warmth to your stomach, which serves to warm your body cavity and increase your core temperature. As soon as you can stabilize your core temp, your arms and legs will start to warm up as well
now if you are getting nausious (sp?), it sounds like something else is going on. I would venture to guess dehydration, which does include chills as one of the symptoms. If you are starting to bonk, you can also start to get chills and feel sick. One of the things I have done after long cold runs where I didn’t bring quite enough nutrition is to heat up some gatoraide in the microwave. Hot lemon-lime is remarkably delicious. Kind of like eating hot Jello as a kid.
vortmax
Thank you for the most intelligent explanation of what is going on! The wealth of knowledge that passes through here is incredible.