Women's Locker Room

My new club has a sweet sauna in the women's locker room! The last time I was in a sauna was years ago - South End Rowing Club, San Francisco post 57 degree bay swim... Have to admit, I've ditched a few workouts with no training partners for the sauna. Not exactly sure what one is supposed to wear in a hot dry sauna... but there are no less than 8 boxes of tissue in the area right outside the sauna entrance. Last thing I need right now is another temptation keeping me out of the pool! But its kind of nice before the summer heat hits SoCal. Some interesting research out of Stanford about saunas and sports performance. One of the body's biggest physiological adaptations to exercise, particularly endurance exercise in the heat, is getting better at dealing with the considerable heat generated internally by muscle contractions. We have a great triathlete on our swimming team, and he can last forever in the steam bath and sauna. I quipped once that this was probably a great form of "training" that was giving him an advantage over this tri competitors. He later found the Stanford references, which I might be able to track down if there is any interest... To sum up: Ahelee, you might feel lazy sitting around in the sauna. But you might actually be getting in shape in a new way! Not all gains come at the expense of pains!

My new club has a sweet sauna in the women's locker room! The last time I was in a sauna was years ago - South End Rowing Club, San Francisco post 57 degree bay swim... Have to admit, I've ditched a few workouts with no training partners for the sauna. Not exactly sure what one is supposed to wear in a hot dry sauna... but there are no less than 8 boxes of tissue in the area right outside the sauna entrance. Last thing I need right now is another temptation keeping me out of the pool! But its kind of nice before the summer heat hits SoCal. Some interesting research out of Stanford about saunas and sports performance. One of the body's biggest physiological adaptations to exercise, particularly endurance exercise in the heat, is getting better at dealing with the considerable heat generated internally by muscle contractions. We have a great triathlete on our swimming team, and he can last forever in the steam bath and sauna. I quipped once that this was probably a great form of "training" that was giving him an advantage over this tri competitors. He later found the Stanford references, which I might be able to track down if there is any interest... To sum up: Ahelee, you might feel lazy sitting around in the sauna. But you might actually be getting in shape in a new way! Not all gains come at the expense of pains!