Sauna

The fitness center has a (large and working) sauna. I really enjoy using the sauna after an intensive set of HITTs. At the fitness center where I formerly had my membership, the sauna was small (three people was about all it could accommodate) and often broken down. This sauna is spacious and hot! I'm having to acclimate myself to the heat.

There are definite advantages to using the sauna. One is that it helps reduce muscle soreness from a hard workout. Another is that it helps rid the skin of free radicals. Sweating also moves excess salt out of your body (when I've been using a sauna regularly I can tell when I've eaten salty food - I can taste it in the sweat that runs across my lips). And finally, if it is quiet in the sauna, the combination of heat and solitude can be very relaxing.

The big myth is that weight can be sweated off in a sauna. There is a slight boost in metabolism that would mean a small increase in calories burned, but nothing worth building a weight reduction plan on. Sweat, no matter what circumstances produce it, does not come from fat. It is not being melted off. Sweat comes from fluidic the blood and that fluid is replaced the next time you drink water or do anything else to hydrate.

The sauna is enjoyable with definite benefits, but it is no substitute for the hard work of strenuous exercise.