Can anybody tell me the benefits of using the sauna/steamroom regularly? I mean this in regard to endurance athletes given that I recently read that David Goggins has an hour sauna session everyday.
If there are significant benefits, what is the best way to use the sauna/steamroom??
Cheers.
i use it in conjunction with a cold plunge, alternating btwn the two
but not immediately after a workout, later on
works great to loosen up muscles
colder the better…snow is perfect
.
Can anybody tell me the benefits of using the sauna/steamroom regularly? I mean this in regard to endurance athletes given that I recently read that David Goggins has an hour sauna session everyday.
I read somewhere that Dave Scott and Scott Molina both like shrimp, maybe give that a go, too?
John
And I hear you like cock! Keep your useless comments to yourself.
If anybody who’s educated on the issue has anything helpful to add I’d really like to hear them…
…move to Phoenix or Houston — same results without all of the boxed in feelings…
OK…I’ll go away now too.
-Ron
…move to Phoenix or Houston — same results without all of the boxed in feelings…
All that suburban sprawl would make me feel boxed in. 
Whoops, I guess that’s not too relevant to the OP either. I shall prepare to be insulted.
Rik
I like the idea that instead of training or recovering, my best option might be to
sit in a dark steamy room with naked men for an hour.
In summary: I think it’s a horrible idea. Then again, my naked man requirements
are pretty low.
-Jot
I have no idea how an hour a day would help with training, but, maybe there is something to it. I will hit the steam room for a couple different reasons:
After a swim in the pool. I am always starving after swimming. I read that it was due in part to the lowering of body temp from being in the pool (my pool is frigid). I hit the suana for 20 min or so after a swim and I do not have that feeling of needing to devour an entire pizza.
After the pool. I like to let the pores open up and force out a lot of the chlorinated water. My skin is not as dry and itchy after.
Alternating hot/cold. Like another poster said, I will alternate steam room and freezing pool if I feel a bit tight. It helps to loosen up the muscles.
ahhh…wow pretty aggressive…
I was told (pre Phuket) to go into steam room with a huge bottle of water, spend 10 mins in, come out, then again 10 mins - do 3 times. Slowly building up time you spend in there. The bottle of water is essential - this was told to me, so I have no email to recall full details off.
The above is apparently meant t help the plasma levels get used to heat & humidity in a race (like phuket).
The source was a friend of mine who trained the HK Police & had done various dessert Marathons - however the steam room I tried this in was too friggin hot so ended up binning it!!
Interesting, first time I’ve read about steam rooms for heat acclamation. Was this supposed to be done a specific timeframe before the race?
It was a few years back… temp had dropped a but in HK and was dryer, cooler mornings, etc… - think I was told to do this about 2-3 weeks pre race.
Al Arnold, the first guy to run Badwater solo, used to ride his bike in a sauna for up to 4 hours to build up his tolerance to the heat. He claims that over time this altered his physiology. I’d imagine that Goggins is doing it for the same reason, training for Badwater.
An article I read reported that Al eventually had the sauna hotter than 100c and that if you’d walked in you could have burned yourself just by touching Al’s skin. That doesn’t seem possible but who knows…
If you google Al Arnold and Badwater you should be able to find a long article that describes his training.
I have no idea how an hour a day would help with training, but, maybe there is something to it. I will hit the steam room for a couple different reasons:
After a swim in the pool. I am always starving after swimming. I read that it was due in part to the lowering of body temp from being in the pool (my pool is frigid). I hit the suana for 20 min or so after a swim and I do not have that feeling of needing to devour an entire pizza.
After the pool. I like to let the pores open up and force out a lot of the chlorinated water. My skin is not as dry and itchy after.
Alternating hot/cold. Like another poster said, I will alternate steam room and freezing pool if I feel a bit tight. It helps to loosen up the muscles.
I might be the only person in the world who uses the steam room or spa or sauna before my swims, especially during the Winter.
Started doing it in 2003 before the world champs as the place where I was working as a vet it was 3degrees celcius average temp each Winter day. So at 6am in the morning I had to warm the muscles up before swiming and then got in some good training. Only 2 swims a week for a couple of months and did just over 22mins for the 1500 on raceday.
It is Winter again now and the average temp where I am is about 7degrees celcius, so started my training the last 2 days with 30mins in a steam room followed by 45 hard swiming. Then off to a spin class for an hour and at the same gym a 30min cool down run at 13km/hr. Feeling great and will do the same tomorow but am finished work for the next 5 1/2 months so have plenty of time and can put all my energy into it. The gym has a sauna and I will try that at the end of the day also. I start using electrolyte/energy drink as soon as the swim finishes and through the spin class and run.
During the Summer I swim train about 60% of the time in a lake with a wetsuit, and the water averages 16degrees celcius. But the air temp averages mid 20’s so it is easy to jump straight in. My preference is to do a hard run or bike first to really get hot then the swim also works as a way to cool off.
Training is going very well, but Roth will really show if it is so. I chose to work seasonally and do some other odd jobs when I feel like it, but did work some very long hours during the Summer(16hrs/day fo a bit).
If you get laid off, and have no commitments it will likely be the best time of your life ; that is look at it as an opportunity to decide what you really want to do and get extremely fit with all your time.
By the way i was dreaming of being in Sweden today training when I was doing the treadmill run. The saunas and Ikea girls sometimes come to mind.
I believe a sauna helps for recovery also - I realise that belief is next to useless, nevertheless…
Fact:
Blood vessels react to heat by dilating and creating an increase in blood flow to the affected area.
Hypothesis:
Creating blood flow to an area that has been damaged by exercising -while not exercising- could probably assist in recovery without causing the further damage that a “recovery run” could cause.
Effect of post-exercise sauna bathing on the endurance performance of competitive male runners. Scoon GS, Hopkins WG, Mayhew S, Cotter JD.
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
The physiological adaptations to sauna bathing could enhance endurance performance. We have therefore performed a cross-over study in which six male distance runners completed 3 wk of post-training sauna bathing and 3 wk of control training, with a 3 wk washout. During the sauna period, subjects sat in a humid sauna at 89.9+/-2.0 degrees C (mean+/-standard deviation) immediately post-exercise for 31+/-5 min on 12.7+/-2.1 occasions. The performance test was a approximately 15 min treadmill run to exhaustion at the runner’s current best speed over 5 km. The test was performed on the 1st and 2nd day following completion of the sauna and control periods, and the times were averaged. Plasma, red-cell and total blood volume were measured via Evans blue dye dilution immediately prior to the first run to exhaustion for each period. Relative to control, sauna bathing increased run time to exhaustion by 32% (90% confidence limits 21-43%), which is equivalent to an enhancement of approximately 1.9% (1.3-2.4%) in an endurance time trial. Plasma and red-cell volumes increased by 7.1% (5.6-8.7%) and 3.5% (-0.8% to 8.1%) respectively, after sauna relative to control. Change in performance had high correlations with change in plasma volume (0.96, 0.76-0.99) and total blood volume (0.94, 0.66-0.99), but the correlation with change in red cell volume was unclear (0.48, -0.40 to 0.90). We conclude that 3 wk of post-exercise sauna bathing produced a worthwhile enhancement of endurance running performance, probably by increasing blood volume.
Google’d: http://www.badwater.com/training/webbonheat.html not by Al, but a Badwater competitor. Build up time in the sauna, drink copiously, 3 weeks worth ending 3 days before the race - sounds like good advice.
And I hear you like cock! Keep your useless comments to yourself.
Hrm. You seem awfully think skinned. Repressing something maybe?
AFAIK, the best way to use a sauna/steam room is to walk in and sit down. There isn’t much published, try it and see if it works for you.
If it doesn’t, you could always use the shrimp as a fallback training plan.
John
I see no reason to do that. I’ll be you can cook shrimp on the heater, so you can
try the sauna/steam room AND the shrimp at the same time.
KONA HERE I COME!
-Jot
Fine if you are getting used to the heat. If not, then I think it hinders your recovery more than anything. My HR is always elevated from the heat of the sauna.