I am currently really inspired by an article out of the New York Times published yesterday. Title: Some Like It Hotter. Which obviously is such an attention grabber I was psyched to read an article by this title in the Health section [my first stop upon opening nytimes.com...who reads business or tech...really].
My first heated workout experience [excluding normal outdoor workouts in the summer]: I first attended Bikram yoga one summer during college, along with my dad who was rehabing from pulling his entire back and hamstring area going too heavy in deadlifts. We were quite a sight. My dad is a former 2 sport college athlete, 6'2, muscular, little to zero flexibility, engineer, red head. Wearing running spandex. And only running spandex. Here I am as my college self, 5'9, platinum blonde, thick legs/butt [hello track physique], wearing running spandex and a sports bra [as advised by father]. We looked like two bodybuilders who confused directions and ended up at yoga instead of Crossfit. It took me a good 30 minutes to even learn how to BREATH in that type of heat. It was a Bikram studio exclusively, so the heat was well over 100. I didn't understand how people could choose to do this. Like, voluntarily. I had never seen sweat drip off my body like it did that day. I was SO impressed. I seriously thought I had hit my max sweating potential way before this experience...and boy was I wrong.
Fastforward to spring 2012. Primarily as a resource to manage my grief with Derrik's death, I joined Prana Power Yoga in December, a heated power yoga studio in Cambridge. The first thing I do when I scroll through the class schedule for the day is automatically eliminate any classes with (unheated) listed after the name. I get to the studio 20 minutes prior to start time to position my mat 1. as far as possible from the door [because NOTHING is worse than people leaving it open and letting the heat escape] and 2. as close to a heat vent as possible. Sometimes I walk in and the temp reads <90 and I consider leaving. This hour and 15 minutes of pain [that only I seem to experience while everyone else is focusing on deep breathing] isn't worth it if the studio isn't really hot. The sweating that occurs in these classes is absolutely insane. Bikram is definitely sweaty, but imagine doing vinyasa flow in a heated room, it is like 2x the sweaty goodness. I have yet to find a proper towel solution that will prohibit me from slipping and sliding in every pose during the last 30 minutes. I just consider it an additional core challenge.
The most fascinating aspect of this article is how the 'heated workout' has found its way past yoga and well into other exercise disciplines. I wholeheartedly applaud this effort. The best quote in the article accurately summarizes how I feel every time I hit the gym: "You don't waste three songs sitting around warming up - you can hit it hard from the start." I don't actually believe you should skip your warm up, but it annoys me that it takes appx 3 songs to even start sweating during the average spin class. WHYYYY do they keep the spin class room at 66? That is freezing. If you come to the gym and hope not to sweat, just stay home. The best benefit of spin class is leaving a pool of sweat under your bike. It isn't like you are riding more than a couple miles in 45 minutes...no serious training is to be done in there. I sneakily up the temp to 70 every time I enter the spin room. People stare at me like 'what are you doing?' and I simply look back at them like 'don't worry about it.' I also place myself as far away from the fan as possible. I seriously didn't come to spin to not sweat, quite the opposite.
I would be totally thrilled if all exercise classes were held in heated rooms. Beyond the obvious benefit of a complete cleansing sweat, your muscles are much more supple and ready to work in heated environments. I learned this very well my first season of track, when we were forced to warm up in full body sweats when it was 90 degrees outside.
While I personally love heated workouts, I also know how my body reacts and I know that my body can handle them. Test it out for yourself. I drink liters and liters of water a day, which certainly helps, and don't go in starving or you will be THAT girl/guy that passes out because they don't know how to properly feed themselves [quite a shame...]. I hope that the heated exercise fad continues growing because, as the title of this post implies, it will help rid the gym of the priss factor...
